Hide and Seek
by CoolCat0720
Summary: She was a child when he was an initiate for Dauntless. Now he was a feared Leader at Dauntless and she was the initiate. And when push comes to shove, will she make it through graduation?
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys! This is my first time doing a Divergent story so I just want to point out a few things:**

 **#1. I actually haven't haven't read the Divergent series yet, I've only seen the movie, but I know that books are always better than the is a great example of that. Therefore, the characters in this story (besides my OCs) will look like the ones from the movies.**

 **#2. If I get anything wrong about how the Divergent series works, please don't hesitate to correct in the reviews or PM me and I'll try and fix it.**

 **#3. The reason I wanted to write this is because I think Eric is super hot and I wanted to pair him with an OC of mine. Please don't judge a woman with a crush LOL Also I'm doing this for my friend Jessica because she loves Eric like me LOL THIS IS FOR YOU JESSICA**

 **4#. Heads up, this first chapter takes place when Four and Eric become initiates, and I tried to capture what they might have been like during this time. Please tell me if I did an okay job!**

 **ENJOY!**

 **Chapter 1) Newness**

Walking through the Pit could be compared to going to school for the first day; you know nobody there yet you can't help but feel as if everyone is staring at you. However in Trixie's case, this feeling was not that far off the mark. Every time she glanced up around her, Dauntless members were staring at her as she walked passed with her uncle. Whenever she met the gaze of someone, she looked back at her feet and kept her head down. She wasn't used to this attention and didn't know how to handle it, so she wasn't going to handle it at all. All she could do was wait until they were out of the Pit, but she was once again the most unlucky Abnegation on the planet.

The exit was within sight when they were stopped by an imposing man with dark skin and short cropped hair. While he wasn't as tall as her uncle, his stance was strong with authority, and his face was hard as he looked at her uncle. She recognized him. A few years back on Visiting Day, she had seen him talking with her father. Max was his name, if Trixie remembered correctly. When he looked from her uncle down at her she realized she had spoken his name out loud. His expression softened the tiniest and he actually gave her a small smile, kneeling down to her eye level. Even at the young age of eleven, Trixie was a little shorter than most of the children in her class.

"So you know who I am," Max stated and Trixie gave a small, nervous nod. The corner of his mouth lifted and he continued, "But I don't seem to know who you are."

For a split second Trixie feared she was in trouble for the way his tone was and she couldn't help but shrink behind her uncle a bit. However her fear was for not when Max leaned forward on his knee and asked, "Wanna tell me your name little lady?"

She could feel her uncle turn to look down at her but she forced herself not to look at him and kept her eyes on Max. "Trixie," She responded in a small voice, "My name is Trixie."

Max nodded, holding her gaze for a few more moments before coming to a stand again, his eyes hardening once again as he looked at her uncle. "I expect there won't be any problems from her Jonathan."

"No." Her uncle stated firmly, his grip on her bag tightening only a little but Trixie still noticed.

Max gave him a curt nod and responded, "Good."

Max glanced down at Trixie, giving her a small smile before walking away, two members of Dauntless trailing behind him. Trixie watched them go before looking ahead and running to catch up with her uncle who had already started walking again. Every one of his steps required two or three of her own to keep up with his pace. People still stared as they walked by, but Trixie suddenly wasn't as bothered by them as before. If Max, a leader of Dauntless, was kind to her then not all of them could be that bad. Maybe they weren't as frightening as they looked. She often saw them patrolling near Abnegation whenever they were helping with the Factionless. While most looked intimidating to her, some looked rather silly with their bright colored hair and metal piercings.

They made their way to an elevator that was taking them up to one of the higher floors where the living quarters were. Only the most respected and capable Dauntless could live at Headquarters and her uncle Jonathan was one of the few. He was one of the few combatant instructors that trained not only the initiates but all the Dauntless members as well; only if they wanted to expand their combat abilities. The regular members feared him and the leaders respected him. Though she knew she shouldn't, Trixie also feared her uncle and what he was capable of, but she still loved him. Not because he was her last living family member but because she had always wanted to be strong like him. However she doubted the love he had for her as his niece. The elevator was quiet and Trixie, wanting to hold his hand, reached for it slowly, but her fingers brushed the palm of his hand and he moved away all too quickly and used both of his hands to hold her bag in front of him even though he could hold it with one if he wanted to.

Trixie dropped her hand and clasped it with the other in front of her, bowing her head as she fought back the feeling of the tears welling up in her eyes. No, she would not cry, but at the same time why couldn't she? She every right to at this moment. Her parents were gone and now she was to live with her uncle who, for some reason unknown to Trixie, blamed her for the death of her parents. She was told that it was just his way of coping, it would pass with time, and he truthfully loved her very much. If that was so, why couldn't he stand the touch of her hand?

The ding of the elevator alerted them that they had reached their floor and the doors slid open, revealing an empty hallway. Her uncle Jonathan stepped out first and she followed quickly behind him, keeping her head bowed as they walked. She didn't worry about walking into anything because she knew he would tell her to move behind him if someone was coming. She was to draw as little attention to herself as possible while living with him. Despite him being in charge of her wellbeing, she knew he would not be there all the time, and that made things hard for the both of them because that meant she would be alone for the majority of her time here. But they had no choice; it was either he take her in or she become Factionless. At this point though, Trixie had no idea if this was truly the best option.

They stopped outside a wooden door painted black, Jonathan using a keycard to get inside. He opened the door for her and stood to the side and waited for her to walk in first. Though it was against Abnegation ways to go in before another, the steel gaze of her uncle told her he wasn't moving, so she bowed her head and hesitantly walked in first.

The door slammed shut behind her and she jumped, whirling around to watch her uncle as he set her bag down in the hallway and moving past her, leaving Trixie alone for a few seconds before she moved to follow him. His apartment was fairly new, some of his things still in boxes that he had yet to go through, but it was necessary if she was to live with him. He had to move into an apartment that had two rooms instead of the studio apartment most members had. He had been alerted two weeks before that Trixie would be living with him and the leaders of Dauntless gave him access to a bigger place so she could come live with him. He wasn't really given a choice as to whether or not he wanted her to live with him but at the same time he was the only one who could and he realized that along with them. However, they had no idea that Jonathan had mixed feelings about his niece; he loved her as his flesh and blood but he also hated her.

Trixie looked around and found herself liking it right away. The entire wall she was facing at the back of the living room was made of glass, giving her a view of the city below, and showing how high they really were. But the latter didn't bother Trixie since she wasn't afraid of heights. Trixie placed her personal satchel on the ground near the wall and scampered over, her hands pressing against the smooth, cold surface as she looked at anything and everything in her sight. She could see the top of the ferris wheel in the distance, a sudden urge to go and explore beginning to overtake her. Even though it's looked at poorly in Abnegation, Trixie was a curious little monkey who loved to explore. Whenever someone couldn't find her, she would often be near the Factionless, running around and hiding in empty buildings. Many members of the Factionless knew Trixie or had heard about her; she was one of the few who didn't help them out of pity but out of pure selflessness. She didn't really understand what that meant whenever someone told her that she was selfless, she mostly helped them because she was a picky eater and would give them food that she didn't like. But to those she helped, she was giving them the means to live another day.

She was quickly pulled from her thoughts by the sound of her uncle clearing his throat and she turned to see him looking at her with an expression that Trixie couldn't identify. He moved to stand sideways and held his arm out in the direction of an open door at the left end of the apartment. "That will be your room." He simply told her.

They stared at each other quietly, Trixie trying to think of something to express how grateful she was for him taking her in, but the moment was gone as soon as it had come when he moved to the opposite end of the apartment towards another room. He went inside and shut the door behind him with a click, leaving Trixie alone in the living room. She stared at his door before looking back out the window, her tears once again welling up in her eyes. Besides when her parents had first passed, Trixie had never felt more alone than she did now.

She managed to keep the tears at bay but she couldn't stop her sniffles as she moved back towards the front door to get her bag with all her belongings in it. It was a little too heavy for her but she managed to pick it up off the ground with both her hands for a few steps before having to set it down to gather her strength to carry it further.

She wasn't strong like her father had been; receiving most of her qualities from her mother, but that didn't bother her. Her black ink hair now reached to the middle of her back from the neglect to cut it to its required length but was currently in a high ponytail with the ends brushing her shoulders. Some of it had decided to rebel and not stay up so Trixie had pushed it to frame the right side of her face, giving long, uneven bangs. Her skin was ghastly pale and wouldn't darken no matter how much time she spent in the sun but it was smooth to the touch and clear of freckles. She was thin as a board, causing her father to worry for her constantly but her mother had told them it was a high metabolism from her side of the family, and would most likely change when she got older. The only thing she received from her father was his pale, crystal blue eyes.

After a minute or two, Trixie managed to make it to her new room with her bag, pushing the door open with her shoulder before setting the bag down on the floor to look around. It was a perfect square room with a bed shoved in the furthest right corner and a desk shoved to the left. A dresser was to her right next to the door and she struggled to set her bag atop it. She then went back out to the living room and headed for where she had left her satchel on the ground. Going back to her room, she began to settle into her new home. Her clothes, which consisted of mostly grey and a few white pieces, were folded and placed neatly in the dresser, and her few school books were placed on her desk. She paused for a moment when she noticed a small button on the bottom left corner of her desk and pressed it to reveal a glass screen slide up from the side pressed up against the wall. It had the date and the time in the corner and the background showed a picture of the very same ferris wheel she was looking at minutes ago. It had the basic applications for a student to use at school except as far as she was aware no other factions, except for Erudite, had the means to do school work at home. A small note on the corner of the screen informed her that it was a gift from her uncle who presented this to her as a way to occupy herself if he was absent in the future.

When everything was put away, she made sure her door was closed before moving over to her satchel and sitting on her bed, digging her way to the bottom where a small book of poetry lay; she had found it in an abandoned building not too long ago. Inside it were two pictures; one was a pencil sketch of her mother that a friend of hers had done before her parents had died, since Abnegation weren't allowed to have pictures of themselves, and the other was a Dauntless profile picture of her father before his choosing day. While he looked so much younger than the man she remembered as her father, he had the same eyes as her and she could still see traces of his older self in the picture.

These pictures were all she had left of her parents.

Her hands shook as she looked between the two of them, wishing desperately that they were there with her now. If she tried really hard, she could still imagine the gentle caress of her mother's hands on her face, and the strong embrace of her father whenever she was sad.

Finally, after a day of keeping back the tears, she held the pictures to her chest as she laid on her side, and she wept.

 **...**

 **A Year Later….**

Trixie was walking along the train tracks, making her way towards the Dauntless headquarters from school. The classes were cut short for the day due to the Choosing Ceremony which was taking place right about now. However, because Trixie was only twelve years of age, she was not required to go.

She took the long way back, passing through Factionless territory near Abnegation. She saw some familiar faces and stopped to talk with them for a few moments. Most asked why she didn't stop by as often as she did before but she was unable to answer truthfully due to the rule that her living in Dauntless was supposed to be kept under wraps. She saw a few of her friends and tried to talk to them but quickly gave up on the idea when all she received were looks of pity and sadness. It had been nearly a year already and yet nothing had changed; she was still being viewed as the orphan of Abnegation.

About an hour had passed of walking and Trixie could see the top of the Dauntless headquarters not too far away; maybe about five minutes away if she quickened her pace. The black mini boots her uncle had given her to help make the journey easier on her feet were fully covered by grey dress she was wearing, its length so long she stepped on the hemline once or twice. Most of the buildings she went by were empty and slowly caving in on themselves with vines growing up the sides in crawling inside the windows. Others looked recently rebuilt to make room for some of the Dauntless members who couldn't live in the compound. While she had never been inside any of the newer buildings, she was very familiar with the abandoned ones; the ones closer to Abnegation were like a second home to her from how much time she had spent exploring them. Once she had gotten stuck in one of the upper floors of a building but she knew the fire escape was still intact outside so she had to climb out the window and walk along the ledge until she could jump onto it. It had been a terrifying experience but when she had told her father about it he had never been more proud of her.

As she walked, she heard the familiar sound of the train coming her way and moved off the tracks in time to turn and see the train slowing down considerably as they approached headquarters. She was about to continue walking when she heard her name being called and turned again but this time she saw a familiar face sticking out of one of the cars. With his arm outstretched, he reached for Trixie, and she started running alongside the train. When the car came up next to her, she didn't have time to turn around when she was suddenly grabbed from behind and hoisted off her feet with a yelp, and pulled back into a firm chest inside of the car. She grabbed the arm around her waist as if it were a life line, breathing deeply as she tried to calm her racing heart. "You alright?" A deep voice spoke next to her ear, causing her to get goosebumps, and she turned in his grip before pushing away and swatting at his chest, a deep blush across her features.

"You scared me Tobias! I was about to turn and grabbed your arm if you had waited." She stated.

Tobias gave her a small, smug smile that made her blush deepen and she turned away from him to stare out the open side of the car, her arms around her middle as she forced herself not to swat at him again.

Tobias was her friend since she had been very little, one of the only boys who didn't tease her for being a crybaby, and the only one who didn't treat her differently since her parents. They met when Tobias was ten and Trixie was six. He had been hiding in an abandoned building but had accidentally climbed too high and, being afraid of heights, couldn't get down. It was coincidence that Trixie had been passing by when she had heard the boy crying and found him in one of the top levels in a corner, crying with his knees pulled up to his chest. She had asked him why he was crying, noticing the bruises above his left brow and on the right side of his jaw, and he told her he couldn't get down. It had taken a lot of coaxing on her part but she had managed to get him to come down after showing him how to do it and holding his hand the entire time. She didn't understand at the time that he had a severe fear of heights. And when she had asked him if he wanted to go home, she ended up dragging him to her own house where her parents had been waiting for her, but they didn't ask questions when she brought a bruised Tobias with her. She also hadn't understood the idea of a parent hurting their own child. How could they? Trixie's parents had loved her dearly, why would any other parent be different?

Murmuring from behind Trixie caught her attention, realizing that everyone was becoming curious as to why a child of Abnegation was on the train heading towards Dauntless, and she unconsciously stepped closer to Tobias and kept her head down to avoid people from seeing her face from behind the layer of bangs on the right side of her face. Sensing her discomfort, Tobias moved from leaning against the door to standing erect and covering her from prying eyes on the left. When someone from Candor came up and addressed them, Tobias must have glared at him because not seconds later the Candor boy raised his hands in surrender and walked the other way. Tobias didn't put his arm around her, not wanting to cause even more suspicion for her, but he knew his closeness was helping when her shoulders relaxed the tiniest bit.

It didn't hit Trixie until she heard the shrieks of excitement and she looked outside of the car to see Dauntless-born members beginning to jump out of the cars ahead of them. An unpleasant chill ran down her spine and raised goosebumps on her arms. She turned to Tobias and looked at him, "You chose Dauntless?"

He stared at her with an unreadable expression but when the shouts of initiates started coming from the car just in front of their own, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly, "Don't let go."

Tobias pulled Trixie back a few steps away from the door and waited until most of the car had emptied out. Then, without warning, Tobias ran at his full speed, forcing Trixie to run with him, and jumped.

She didn't have the chance to scream when her feet met gravel on the roof they had landed on and she rolled like a log away from Tobias. Her palms and elbows screamed in agony, taking more of the fall than her feet.

She sat up and looked down at her now ruined palms, tears pricking the corners of her eyes, and she tried thinking of ways to explain to her uncle should he ask.

Before she could even move to stand, Tobias kneeled next to her, and pulled her hands towards him. He examined them momentarily before reaching into Trixie's satchel and bringing out her gray cardigan that she had stowed away earlier during her lessons. He bit into the thin material, making a tear, and ripped the sleeve clean off. He managed to do the same thing to the other sleeve, ripping it off what remained of her cardigan, and then used each sleeve to carefully wrap it around each palm as a makeshift bandage. "I'm sorry about that." He told her, the tone of his voice expressing how bad he felt about practically dragging her out of the car and forcing her to jump but she heard no guilty tone behind it.

Trixie shrugged her shoulders and gave an awkward smile, knowing that her tears would contradict her next words, "It's okay. It doesn't hurt too bad."

She couldn't stop herself from sniffling and Tobias gave her a knowing look.

He grabbed her by her elbows but immediately retracted his hands when she whimpered. That's right, she had completely forgotten about her elbows, but all she hoped for was that it didn't look as bad as it hurt.

Trixie flexed her newly bandaged hands, wincing at the sting of the fabric rubbing against her skin, but she decided it wasn't as bad as her elbows and reached for Tobias. He hesitated when reaching for her in return but made sure to be gentle with his grip as he helped pull her to her feet.

She went to thank him when the sound of a whistle drew both of their attention and a Dauntless-born was making his way over to them. He had a short mop of black hair on his head, his movements on his head showing the uneven ends. He was dressed in black pants and a tight fitting tank top, a high collared leather jacket on his shoulders. A dark grey metal stud pierced his right ear, catching the sun every few seconds. What stuck out to Trixie the most was his golden yellow eyes that watched them carefully.

"You better hurry if you want to make it stiff." He directed his words at Tobias, who clenched his jaw at him.

The two stared at each other until Tobias finally broke eye contact and looked down at Trixie next to him.

She gave him and encouraging smile and pulled her hands from his, jerking her chin in the direction of the crowd that had huddled on another rooftop not too far from the one they were on. Tobias gave her a small nod, a conflict evident in his eyes. He managed to turn and walk a few yards when he stopped to look back at Trixie. She gave him a smile, realizing he didn't want to leave her there, and started walking in his direction. The Dauntless initiate looked between them briefly before moving in the same direction of the crowd, grabbing Tobias by his upper arm to pull him at a faster pace than the one he was going.

With Trixie following at a somewhat slower pace, the trio made their way over to the crowd. However when they reached the back of the initiates group, Trixie froze mid step when she saw Max standing on the ledge and was addressing all of them.

"Your initiation begins here; the entrance to the compound is below and there is only one way in." He was being vague on purpose, enjoying the reaction that seemed to wash over the entire group when they realized what he was implying.

"We have to _jump_?"

"Is this really the only way?"

"He must be crazy if he thinks I'm doing that."

Trixie listened to them all mutter and complain but kept her head down in hopes that she would remain unnoticed.

Unfortunately for her, Max had a sharp gaze as he swept over the crowd, and immediately noticed the short girl with ink black hair. His eyes narrowed upon seeing her and he shouted, "I see we have an uninvited guest!"

His words caused confusion among the initiates and they began to look around at one another, wondering who Max could possibly be talking about. The only ones who didn't move were the golden-eyed initiate and Tobias; the first looking back at her from where he stood in the group and the latter freezing when he realized that Max was looking right at Trixie. Everyone began to follow his gaze and looked back at where the small girl was, the crowd splitting down the middle where Max had his eyes focused. Trixie glanced up to see everyone looking at her before looking back down at her feet, her tiny hands clasped tightly in front of her as she ignored the sting of her palms. A blush settled on her cheeks from all the attention she was getting and she couldn't do anything but stand where she was.

"Why don't you come on down to the front next to me?" Though his words were a spoken as a question, Trixie knew better than anyone that it was an order, and she had no choice but to listen and obey. She remained where she was for a few seconds before she shyly walked through the middle where the crowd had parted. She heard snickers and whispers of confusion as to who she was and what she was doing there come from both sides but she kept her head down as she walked to the front. During her walk, a strange sensation ran down her spine and she couldn't help but feel an intense gaze coming from one person near her, but she didn't dare look up in fear that Max would get upset by the delay. The gap behind her closed the closer she got to the front.

When she stood but a few feet away from the ledge, she couldn't bring herself to look at Max who no doubt must have had an expression of anger towards her. She knew she wasn't supposed to be here but at the same time she wasn't really given a choice lest she be left on the train.

Max jumped off the ledge and walked towards her, his hands behind his back as he looked at her, and wondered what to do. While he wasn't too angered by her presence, she was _not_ meant to be here, and if she was here then that meant her uncle was not keeping as close an eye on her as he was being led to be. That or her being her was an accident. Either way, this was a problem.

When he was two feet away, Trixie gathered the courage to look up at Max, and was surprised to see the blank expression he wore. He looked tired, the small bags under his eyes making him seem older, but she couldn't see any sign of irritation or anger in his features like she had been expecting. "Stand off to the side until I'm done. I'll deal with you after this."

Trixie gulped from the nervous feeling welling up in her stomach and she simply nodded, bowing her head as she walked off the stand near the corner of the rooftop and slightly sit on the ledge. She could still feel everyone staring at her but it was only for a moment before Max returned to his spot on the ledge and cleared his throat loudly to gain back everyone's attention. "In the end it's your choice; jump now or become Factionless, simple as that."

Everyone in the group began so murmur again, some were complaints about how crazy Max was for making them jump, while others were daring another person to go first, but the only thing Trixie could look at was the pale expression on Tobias' face. His fear of heights was brought to the forefront of her mind and she immediately worried he wouldn't be able to do it. While Tobias could face most of the basic fears every person had, like spiders or bugs or things like that, the few fears he did have he never got over once; except for that time when they were little and she had to help him down.

The murmuring stopped when someone began making their way to the front, the crowd splitting a path for him, and Trixie saw he wore blue clothing from Erudite. He wasn't extremely tall like some males from his faction but he was still taller than some of the other boys in the whole group. His skin looked as if it hadn't seen the sun often enough. His hair was a light brown, almost blonde looking the way he had it swept back out of his face. But even from where Trixie sat she could see the strong features in his face and the hardness of his jaw. "Is this really the only way in...or is this _your_ version of a test of bravery?"

"You tell me." Max replied smoothly, his face giving nothing away as he stared at the boy, but Trixie had seen it plenty of times to know when Max was intrigued by something and he was definitely intrigued by the Erudite transfer.

The boy stared at Max for a few moments longer before looking at the edge, his jaw clenched as he contemplated doing what everyone was afraid to do. Trixie also couldn't help but wonder what he was going to do; would he jump or would he take his chances as a factionless?

Her question was soon answered when he removed his jacket and threw it on the ground beside him, stepping up onto the ledge next to Max and looking down.

And, after a few seconds of silence, he leaned forward, and fell.

Trixie leaned over the corner of the roof and watched over the edge as the boy fell, no sound coming from him as he fell through the hole down below, and disappeared from sight.

After him, everyone seemed to file into a line to jump down into the hole, but everyone else screamed as they went down. Max had come down from the ledge and stood somewhat off to the side near Trixie, making comments about things were about to get interesting, and Trixie understood what he meant when one of the other initiates was boasting about how he could do it and calling the other initiates cowards for not jumping when he was forced to jump next and screamed the whole way down. Trixie couldn't stop the fit of giggles that came out and Max looked down at her from the side of his eyes and he couldn't help the tug at the corner of his lips.

Some were funny to watch, others not so much, but Trixie watched alongside Max as the group of initiates got smaller and smaller until it came down to four initiates left. Tobias was among them, his face still pale as his eyes stayed trained on the edge where everyone had been jumping from. Trixie was beginning to worry that he was going to give up after just making it here. Max eyed the four of them with a narrowed gaze and it was obvious that he wasn't happy with their hesitance and inability to pass the first test. "If you're not going to jump then you're wasting my time." His hands came from behind his back to rest at his sides as he moved to stand in front of them and look them each in the eye.

Tobias was the only one who held his gaze while the other three looked away or down in shame.

Max stared at them for a moment longer before sighing and shaking his head in disappointment, "Fire escape is on the side of the building near the back corner; that's your way down now."

Without another word he moved away from them and went to where Trixie was standing. A plank was on the ledge behind her, connecting to the roof top next to them, and he had one foot on to test its stability before he reached his hand out back for her to take. She stared at his hand, going to take it when she stopped, and turned to look back at Tobias. The other three had gone towards the back corner on the opposite side of them where the fire escape was located, leaving him there alone as he stared at the ledge with a clenched jaw and fear filled eyes. He wanted to jump. She could tell that he wanted to jump so bad but he just couldn't.

Walking away from Max, she went over to where Tobias stood and took his hand in both of hers, the touch making him look down at her in surprise, but she simply gaze him a smile. "It's not too late." She said in a quiet voice.

Tobias averted his gaze, looking over at the ledge with uncertainty, and then quickly looked back at her. His eyes were begging for her to show him what he should do and she immediately recognized it as the same look he had when she was helping him from the building as kids. He was afraid but he didn't want to give up. And like when they were kids, Trixie knew exactly what he needed, and she wasn't afraid in the slightest.

Dropping her bag next to her feet, she gently took both his hands in her own and began to pull him towards the ledge. He followed for a few steps before he began to resist and pull away when he saw where she was leading him but she tightened her grip and pulled on him harder. When they finally stood where everyone else had been jumping previously, Trixie stood at Tobias' side as they stared down into the hole stories down. She lifted the bottom of her dress and moved her foot to step onto the ledge when Max's voice echoed around them. "What the _hell_ do you think you are doing?" He yelled angrily at the pair but his eyes were focused on Trixie and her one foot on the ledge.

She looked back at Max and his barely controlled expression, his face blank but his body was tensed, ready to run and grab her should she try and follow through with what she was about to do. But when she turned and looked at Tobias, his eyes staring into hers, she gave him a small smile before throwing herself over the ledge and pulling him with her.

She heard Tobias yell in surprise before they were falling.

It was a rush of wind around her, Trixie almost unable to keep her eyes open from the force, before she suddenly felt arms wrap tightly around and she was pulled back into a firm chest. She felt herself turning over with her back facing the wind and opened her eyes to see the sky for moment before she saw the edges of the edges of the hole they had fallen through. There was no pain in her body; she had expected maybe a little from possibly landing wrong or something. But all she felt was the strange sensation of her body bouncing on the ropes of the net.

When all was still, the arms around her around her let go and she was gently pushed off of Tobias' body. She laid only for a moment before sitting upright and looking down at Tobias who had an arm over his eyes. She couldn't see the look he had on his face but from the way his lips pressed together, forming a thin line, she could tell he wasn't happy in the least with her little stunt. "We are _never_ doing that again." He grumbled irritably with an exhale, pulling a giggle from the small girl.

The sound of footsteps drew her attention away and she looked to see a Dauntless member she knew as Amar make his ways towards them, a surprised look in his face. She couldn't blame him; he must have thought there were no more jumpers.

But as he got closer, panic immediately set into Trixie's small body and she was suddenly scrambling to get off the net. She had done something very bad. Her uncle had told Max that she wouldn't be any trouble but she had just gone and gotten herself in a huge heap of it by jumping off that roof and taking Tobias with her. Max had witnessed the entire thing and now he was probably going to go straight to her uncle. The fear she felt made her shake as she pulled herself over the edge of the net and landed clumsily on her feet. She heard Tobias call for her and Amar telling her to stop, but she ignored both of them and broke into a sprint, running straight home in hopes of beating Max there or possibly running into him and begging him not to say anything.

 **...**

 **Later...**

Trixie sat on a balcony, her feet dangling down over the ledge and leaning against the middle bar of the railing with crossed arms and a pouty expression, overlooking the Pit where the new initiates were all mingling with some of the other Dauntless members who were welcoming them with open arms. Though Dauntless was more the muscle of the five factions, they all acted like a family despite not being related by blood.

Trixie longed for that. She wanted to be a part of a family. She wanted to feel accept which was the exact opposite of what she felt now.

While she had beaten Max to her uncle's apartment, he had run into Jonathan on the way, and expressed his _worry_ for Trixie and her jumping off buildings and forcing initiates to go with her. Her uncle had returned to the apartment fuming, dropping her satchel she had left behind on the roof at her feet, and then taking her to the medical wing to get her hands and elbows checked out.

She had severe bruising on her elbows and the nurse had to remove any dead skin left on the palms of her hands so they could heal properly before rewrapping them. The entire time her uncle had been glaring furiously at her but she refused to look up and meet his gaze, keeping her eyes on her lap as the nurse worked on her.

When they had left and returned to the apartment, he had yelled at her. A lot. By the end of it, he had stormed out of the room, and she had retreated to her own and sobbed into her pillow.

She hadn't meant to get into trouble, she just didn't want to see Tobias end up Factionless like all the others she had seen before, but her actions had not only upset her uncle but the leaders as well.

She looked down at the dozens of faces of Dauntless and initiates alike, wishing she could go down and walk around, but she was not to show her face around Max or any of the Dauntless members for the time being. Even though she was not to be seen in public, that didn't mean she couldn't watch them from the shadows. She was a good hider so if she got caught she could run and hide; she had proved this theory weeks ago when a member of Dauntless had been searching high and low for her since he was to keep watch over her in her uncle's absence, but the man proved to be brainless as he passed her a handful of times while she was above him in the rafters of the tattoo parlor.

She saw Tobias with them, talking with Amar who had the pleasure of meeting Tobias after she had run away from the net. He had already thrown away his Abnegation clothing and was wearing a black fitted tank top with black pants with the bottoms tucked into a pair of large looking boots. If she didn't know that his feet were slightly bigger than normal she would have thought he was walking around in shoes that were too big for him. He already looked right at home in Dauntless and that thought alone made her smile. He would be alright here.

Trixie released a breath of content and continued to gaze down at the people below her. She was kicking her feet back and forth when she got the strangest feeling that someone was watching her. Not wanting to be Max or anyone else that would get her in trouble, she looked around at all the faces, finding that they were still unaware of her presence, when she looked over to the left side of the group and was met with a pair of grayish blue eyes.

Her own pale blue ones widened in surprised at the intensity of his gaze, the feeling somewhat familiar and she remembered feeling the way earlier that morning when she had approached Max and felt as if she were being watched intently. Sure, everyone had been watching her at the time, but that intense feeling she'd had felt exactly as it did now. He had been watching her just like he was now. He had also been the first jumper if she remembered correctly.

Amidst the constant motion of bodies around him, he remained still as he stared up at her, his eyes looking at her in a way that one could describe in the way of one person analyzing another. But since he was a former Erudite, it didn't really surprise Trixie too much. What did catch her a little off guard was the hard look in his eyes that made her feel inferior.

Ignoring the feeling, she gave a shy smile and waved at him with her hand that rested on her left elbow.

But he didn't wave back. In fact he didn't do anything but stare at her for a few moments before walking away.

Lowering her hand, she couldn't help but feel as if he had dismissed her in some way.

Sighing, she rested her head on her forearms and continued watching the as the rest of the night progressed. There was music and most of the initiates had been swept away to go dancing while only a few had stayed behind to talk with some of the leaders of instructors. Her uncle was with them, however he remained oblivious to her presence like everyone else.

Everyone except the boy from Erudite.

Trixie found herself watching him, curiosity welling up inside her mind. Who was he? Why had he been staring at her before?

He had stayed behind from the dancing to talk to some of the instructors before moving to a bar area along the wall that was distributing drinks for everyone. He sat up on a metal stool and leaned back against the bar as he waited for his own drink, his eyes narrowed as he watched the flurry of activity around him. He looked tense and ready to spring into action at a moment's notice, like he was just waiting for something to happen. When the bartender brought him a dark cup that made it impossible for Trixie to see what was in it, his form relaxed just a little bit and he nodded in thanks before turning to face the crowd once again. As he lifted the drink to his lips, his eyes once again looked up at the balcony where Trixie was sitting, staring at her as he did before.

Instead of looking away though, Trixie held his gaze, resting her head down against her arms as she looked at him from over the crook of her elbow. And throughout the night, that was where her gaze stayed, her eyes following him around as he talked to a few of the instructors again, probably trying to gain some favor with some of them, before he moved towards the exit to turn in for the night. But as he reached it, he stopped and remained still for a few moments before turning around and looking at her once more. His gaze was still hard but when she lifted her head to look at him better, he flashed her a smirk then turned away, disappearing into the tunnel that led back to the initiate's quarters.

Trixie remained frozen for a moment as she stared at the spot that he had just been standing before she buried her face into her arms to hide the smile that had spread across her face. He had smile at her; in a smug, arrogant way but a smile nonetheless.

But her joy did not last long when she looked up from her arms and looked down to see her uncle exchange a few words with Amar before retreating towards another tunnel as well, except the direction he was heading in was towards their apartment. The one that she was supposed to be in right now.

Frantically, she pulled on the railing to hoist herself up from the sitting position she was in before running down the hall behind her in hopes that she would beat her uncle home, and knowing that if he found the place vacant of her, then she would be in even deeper trouble than before.

 **...**

Weeks had passed since the initiates started their training. They had already lost three who hadn't been able to pass the physical part of training and had ended up Factionless. Trixie felt sorry for them but couldn't force herself to be saddened by their departure since she did not know them. Besides she had faith in her faction Abnegation that they would take care of them as best they could. Just like her parents used to do. Just like she used to do.

Dinner had been served over three hours ago and she was sure the majority of the mess hall had cleared out. The initiates were to be playing Capture the Flag in the morning before everyone else awoke so there was no reason for them to be eating at this hour. Her stomach growled at the thought of finally getting to eat after how busy she had been all day with working on her lessons. Then after her lessons, her uncle kept her at his side all day so she wouldn't get into trouble. He was still fuming about the whole incident with her jumping off the roof with Tobias but luckily he had no idea about her little visits to watch the Pit from the balcony. Most of the time, the Erudite boy who had been staring at her before, was there in the Pit, but he did the same thing every time. Talk with some of the instructor's then get a drink at the bar before heading in for the night. That was it.

And every time he was there, Trixie would catch him looking up to where she sat on the balcony, but not once did he ever try to approach her or come up to the balcony. He would just stare. But it didn't really bother Trixie. He seemed to be a little curious about her but not very much. And at the same time that was a good thing. She didn't want anyone asking why a twelve year old Abnegation was walking around Dauntless headquarters. Most people knew by now not to bother asking.

Besides, why would he want to talk to a twelve year old child?

Trixie walked through the tunnels with ease, her many nights wandering aimlessly through the compound paying off. Her feet slid around her boots from the lack of socks and the bottom of her sleeping dress was bunched up in her right hand as she walked, not wanting to trip over the material anytime soon. Despite the low light, her form cast shadows along the walls as she moved silently. She wasn't far from the mess hall when she when she heard someone curse out loud and she ducked behind a corner in surprise.

She waited a few moments, listening to the sound of pacing footsteps getting closer before they paused and the person cursed out loud again. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Trixie slowly moved to peak out from around the corner, and she was met with an unexpected sight.

The Erudite boy was pacing back and forth as he moved to look between the three path intersection he had come across. From the frustrated look in his eyes and the way he clenched and unclenched his hand told Trixie that he was completely and utterly lost. And he was _not_ happy about it. He moved towards one of the paths before pausing, staring down the tunnel with narrowed eyes before cursing once again, and pacing back to his spot in the middle of the intersection.

The sight was so silly to Trixie she couldn't stop the small giggle that escaped her lips.

His head snapped in her direction and she cowered slightly behind the corner but so far that she couldn't see him. "Who's there?" He demanded, the threatening edge in his voice made a small wave of fear wash over Trixie as she gripped the corner with one hand.

She could slip away right now and make a run for it; it would be nearly impossible to catch her in this low light. She could tell he was having a hard time trying to look at her now the way his eyes were squinting to make out her form. But instead of running, Trixie swallowed back her fear, and asked him, "Are you lost?"

His jaw clenched at her statement and she knew that he was. When he remained silent, she tilted her head a little to get a better view of him. He wasn't going to admit he was lost but that was alright. Trixie figured that he was going difficult because most guys would never admit to something as childish as getting lost.

"What's your name?" She asked, trying to press some kind of information that could make this encounter easier than it had become.

"What's yours?" He countered immediately, taking a small step forward as he leaned forward to try and see her better, but she moved further back behind the corner nearly out of his view. He froze in place, his posture tense.

"I can't tell you that," She told him, earning a scowl from the boy, "But people around here call me a trickster, so you can call me that."

His right eyebrow rose questioningly, the metal of his new brow piercing catching the low light, but he made no comment.

Trixie stared at him for a moment, the change of his appearance just now dawning on her. From what she could see in the low lighting, he now had both of his ears pierced along with his right brow that she had noticed, and the sides of his head were shaved while the hair on the top of his head fell messily in front of his forehead. There was more muscle on his body, mostly in his upper body, but she could tell it was a work in progress and he was most likely to get bigger and more fitted.

His gray-blue eyes were focused intently on her as they stood there in silence for only a few moments before she spoke up, "I can take you to the initiates bunker...if that's what you're looking for."

He was quiet for a moment before he questioned coldly, "Why should I follow you? How do I know you're not just gonna lead me to the Chasm and push me off?"

Trixie's stomach churned at his questions and she felt the blood leave her face. Was he seriously considering that she was going to try and...

She swallowed the lump in her throat and she said in a quiet voice, "I just want to help."

He must have heard the sadness in her voice because his gaze softened and his hands unclenched at his sides before he looked away as if he were regretting letting the words leave his mouth.

Trixie stared at him curiously as she watched him contemplate on her words, his eyes showing that he was deep in thought, but what about she didn't really know. Was he thinking about her offer to show him the way or the fact that he accused her of being capable of murder. When Trixie thought about it, not only was it sad but stupid as well. A child capable of pushing his large form off the bridge over the Chasm? Not likely.

"You still haven't told me your name." She said suddenly, causing him to look up as it dawned upon him that she was right.

"...Eric."

She gave him a small friendly smile and nodded, "Hello Eric."

He nodded back, looking at her from head to toe as he seemed to come to a decision. He looked behind at the other tunnels before looking back to her, giving a heavy sigh. "Which way kid?"

Grinning from ear to ear, Trixie lifted her hand and beckoned him forward, telling him to follow her before turning and running down the hall behind her.

For the next couple of minutes, Trixie couldn't help but giggle at his attempts to keep up with her as she led him back to the initiates bunker. Every time he turned a corner to follow her, she was already down the hall around another corner hiding from him, never fully revealing herself to him as she made her way through the tunnels expertly. She knew more than half of the compound like the back of her hand from all her exploring and it wouldn't take much longer before she memorized every nook and crany she could hide in.

She was always a few paces ahead of him, never in plain sight but not completely hidden either. It felt like a game of hide and seek to Trixie and she couldn't stop herself from taking him in circles every now and then to prolong their little game. Whenever she heard him running to catch up, she ran faster to stay ahead of him and keep the distance they had started with, not wanting to fully reveal herself to him just yet.

She could hear him growling in frustration and exhaling in annoyance almost constantly while he tried to keep up with her but she couldn't bring herself to care at the moment. She hadn't had this much fun in a long time.

When she reached the bridge that above the Chasm, she ran across it before pausing briefly in the middle and turned to see him rounding the corner, breathing heavily from all the running he had to do to keep up so he didn't lose sight of her. She raised her hand and beckoned him again to follow her before taking off and going to the other end of the bridge, vanishing down the dark tunnel in front of it.

 **...**

Eric groaned, frustrated at the small girl he was chasing.

He was growing extremely tired of this game of chase, wanting to be in bed by now like most of the people in the Dauntless compound; very few people had jobs at night. It hadn't taken him very long to notice that she sometimes went in circles, whether by accident or on purpose he had no idea, but he didn't really have time to dwell on it or else she would fully disappear from his sight as she did now.

Eric ran across the bridge in pursuit, his boots pounding against the metal as he went, and followed her into the dark tunnel. She had just turned a corner not too far ahead of him, her quiet giggles echoing in the tunnels. They had to be close by now since they had crossed the bridge and when Eric looked around he started recognizing the area. It was familiar to him. He turned the same corner she had before he skidded to a halt. Down this hall was the entrance to the bunker, the large door was open and inside was pure darkness, and he knew that the rest of his fellow initiates had already gone to bed. Well, he had reached the destination, but where had his guide gone?

He was trying to catch his breath when he sensed movement behind him and whirled around.

Trixie stood a few feet away in the middle of the tunnel path, standing right under one of the dim lamps so he could see her. She looked at him in a shy manner, any joy and amusement gone from her face as she bit her bottom lip. Her hands were nervously twisting the scrunched up ball of fabric that was the bottom of her dress, the black boots on her feet looking extremely out of place. Her dark hair had been pulled back hastily in a ponytail at the back of her head, a couple of strands falling in front of her pale blue eyes. She looked no older than the age of seven to him but by the way she had been talking earlier told him that she was older.

"The bunker's down there." She stated quietly, swiftly lifting a finger to point down the hall before moving it back down to twist her dress in her hands.

Eric looked back at the bunker behind him then looked at him again, nodding in thanks for her help.

The two stood there in awkward silence, Eric unable to think of anything to say, and Trixie feeling too shy to say anything else.

Deciding that their time had to come to an end, Eric nodded his head again before taking a step backwards towards the bunker, "See ya' around."

Trixie's nervous shoulders relaxed a little and she gave him a small smile, nodding in return, "Good night."

Eric stared at her hard for a few more seconds before shaking his head and turning away, walking down the hall briskly towards the bunker. Trixie watched him go and didn't move from her spot until he was gone behind the door of the bunker. Feeling sad that the night was over, she turned to walk in the opposite direction, and decided to head back to her uncle's apartment to turn in for the night. For some odd reason, Trixie no longer felt hungry.

 **...**

A few nights had passed since then and Trixie was again found herself wandering the halls of the Dauntless compound, only this time she was hiding from her uncle.

He had caught her with a knife an initiate had left behind in training. Her uncle rarely yelled but when he did it always scared Trixie and this time she didn't stop herself from running out of the apartment. She didn't know if he was looking for her or not but she hadn't run into him yet so she was alright for now.

Sniffling, she wiped her eyes with a clenched hand as she tried to hold back the sobs she so desperately wanted to let out. The sun was just beginning to go down so everyone was probably at the mess hall by now eating dinner. Wandering aimlessly, she turned a corner and saw Eric passing ahead of her at intersecting tunnels. He must have heard her sniffle or moving around because right as he was about to walk down a tunnel out of sight, his head turned in her direction and he paused in his steps.

Trixie tried to stop sniffling but her body betrayed her when she suddenly let out a small hiccup and immediately brought her hands up to cover her mouth. But it was too late and the sound made his brow furrow and his eyes squinted momentarily as if he were doubting it was her he was seeing.

"Trickster." He greeted in a way that made it sound like he were remembering her from before.

Rubbing her eyes furiously, Trixie sniffled again and took a few steps back into the shadows, not wanting him to see that she had been crying. She didn't want him to see her in her childish state; she was twelve after all, not a crybaby.

The sound of her sniffles made him go expressionless but the angered look in his eyes told her another story. He took a few hasty steps towards her but she scrambled back to keep the distance. This made him pause and the angry emotion in his eyes dimmed somewhat. His approach changed and he took a slow step forward, raising one of his hands as if he were trying not to scare off a frightened animal. "You're crying?" His question sounded more like a statement.

Trixie sniffled and wiped her eyes of any remaining tears. When she didn't answer she saw his jaw clench.

"Why?" There was a hint of anger in his voice and she could see the way his eyes were focusing on her strangely.

Trixie shook her head at his question and denied stubbornly, "I'm not crying."

...

 **Eric**

The corner of Eric's mouth twitched as he fought back a smirk. She looked like a riled up kitten, her hands clenched tightly at her sides and her red eyes staring at him hard with a look of stubborn defiance.

Footsteps were coming down the same hall Eric had and he turned to see a handful of initiates coming towards him, Tobias at the front as they got closer. Eric's amusement vanished instantly and he straightened his posture as they approached. Tobias raised his brow at Eric, stopping next to him as the rest of the group continued forward without them, laughing and talking to one another.

Eric looked forward and saw that the little trickster was nowhere in sight but due to her small form he wouldn't be surprised if she was hiding around the corner or nearby.

He'd stared a second too long and Tobias looked in the same direction, curiosity written in his expression. "See something?" He asked Eric in a harmless manner. However, he noticed the way the other male's jaw clenched as he replied, "No." And with that he stormed away, leaving a confused Tobias in his wake.

As Eric walked, he let his thoughts wander to the little girl who he had yet to learn the name of. She had been crying but from the redness in her eyes she hadn't been crying for very long. Why had she been crying though? Since she was still young, there were a handful of options but there were a few he was able to pick out that made sense given her situation. Had she gotten in trouble with Max? The leader had expressed later that night in the Pit that she wasn't supposed to have been there that day during the first part of initiation. However, Eric knew for a fact that Max hadn't seen much of the little girl since the incident since he had expressed strongly that she was not to show her face to him for a few days so that couldn't be it. Physically, she looked fine so it wasn't from an injury. So what else made a kid cry?

Angry parents.

Screaming adults.

Being ignored or emotional neglect.

Eric's jaw clenched at the last one and he forced the thoughts of his past to the back of his mind.

No, this was his home now.

And he was going to have to get familiar with it as soon as possible if he wanted to avoid frustrating situations like getting lost, just like how he was now.

Letting out an angry sigh, he smoothed back the strands of hair that he had been dangling in his face for some time before looking around, realizing that the tunnel he was in looked familiar but he had no idea which way would take him to the mess hall. Yes, memorizing the layout of the compound would have to be his first priority when he passed initiation.

Choosing a random tunnel when he came across more intersecting ones, he didn't get far when he heard the sound of small footsteps behind him, and turned to see the small girl running to catch up, her eyes still red from the tears before, but she looked a little better.

She stopped running when she reached his side, her shoulders moving with each deep breath she took, and Eric found the tension easing from his shoulders. This time he didn't stop the smirk on his lips and he nodded at her in greeting, "Trickster."

She gave him a small, shy smile before gently taking his hand and asking, "Hungry?"

He let out a small chuckle and didn't get to reply before she was pulling him down the tunnel, her form leaning forward to pull him as he leaned back to make it harder for her to pull him but kept walking, finding her struggle with him somewhat entertaining.

...

 **Hello again!**

 **I really hope you enjoyed this first chapter because it took me a very long time to write LOL.**

 **Just so you know, the updates for this are gonna be very slow so please bear with me; however I might update faster if this gets a whole bunch of reviews hahaha**

 **Thank you again for taking the time to read my story, and if its not too much trouble please Favorite, Follow, and Review it!**

 **Have a nice day!**

 **~CoolCat0720**


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright guys, here's the deal. I didn't expect such a huge response to this story since I was just trying it out so now I have to make it one of my main projects. So that means that this will probably be updated more than the rest of my stories but just remember that if it takes a long time for me to update its because I'm working on more than one story at a time right now so please bear with me.**

 **I'm jumping ahead three years so don't judge me. If you want more interaction between Eric and Trixie while they were younger then put it in a review or message me; I'll put it in there somewhere.**

 **Also, I'm not too knowledgeable on the Choosing Ceremony and while I did my research I changed it a bit. They go through the initiates in reverse alphabetical however I had them just go faction by faction.**

 **I fucked with the timeline but remember I'm not going exactly by the books or the story because I haven't read the books themselves; remember I've only seen the movies.**

 **Thank you all who reviewed my story and followed it! You are the reason this update happened.**

 **WARNING! Attempted rape and abuse in this chapter! If you don't like it then skip it but it's actually critical to the story.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Divergent series, only my OCs (p.s. the Dauntless brunette I mention actually belongs to ChaosChick12. Thanks for letting me use her chica!)**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 2) Weakness**

 **3 Years Later...**

At the age of fifteen, Trixie had changed quite a bit. She now stood around 5'3, the tips of her hair now brushing the top of her tailbone whenever she had it out of its usual ponytail, and her bangs had gone too long so she had them cut to reach the bottom of her chin in length. While it looked a little odd with hair that long only framing one side of her face, it allowed her to tuck it behind her ear every now and then when she was focused on something. Her petite body was changing constantly, not only from teenage hormones but also from the new routine her uncle had on.

Wanting her to fit in with the rest of the Dauntless-born kids, he had started to give her small training sessions about a year ago to at least give her some knowledge on being a soldier, but he had increased they're length and difficulty when she had returned from the mess hall and was sporting a black eye and a busted lip from one of the other Dauntless-born teenagers. Yeah, her uncle had not been happy about that. The only reason it hadn't gotten worse was because Tobias, now known as Four, had been passing by and had managed to stop the fight; however he was a second too late to keep Trixie from getting hit one more time and receiving a split lip for it.

Four had passed his initiation years ago with flying colors, coming in first out of the ten that were allowed to stay. He had a little help from his mentor, Amar, but most of it had been Four himself.

And right behind him in second place had been Eric, who had not been happy about it in the least. While he had passed the physical part of initiation, it was the second part where he had a little trouble, and that led to his score lowering below Four's. In the end, no matter how fast he regained the points he'd lost, the scores revealed he was one point short of being at a tie with Four.

But despite Four being in first, it was Eric who took the offer to become a leader; however he had to prove himself worthy and serve under a leader, being Max, before he could.

So imagine everyone's surprise when only a year had passed when Eric was elected as a new leader. Everyone had been skeptical. Becoming a leader at the age of seventeen?

The other leader's didn't respect him as a leader right away but that didn't last long.

Now, at the age of nineteen, he was the most feared leader, and stood head-to-head with Max. Everyone respected him and his authority.

Trixie, however, was not so lucky. At the age of fifteen, every still treated Trixie like she was the twelve year old Abnegation that walked in three years ago.

"Come on, just a little one! I promise you can put it in a place that I can hide it easily!"

The tattoo artist shook his head, "Not happening sugar; not unless I want your uncle putting a knife between my shoulder blades. Now beat it before he catches you here."

Trixie's nostrils flared in anger but she didn't say a word as she stormed out of the tattoo parlor, her hands clenched at her sides as she walked down the hall at a brisk pace.

Unbelievable. Totally and absolutely unbelievable.

After living with these people for three years, almost four, and she still couldn't get something as simple as a tattoo. And what made it sting even more was that it was her fifteenth birthday. She had seen some other Dauntless born kids who were fourteen and thirteen and most of them had at least one tattoo.

Yes, she had gotten new clothes from her uncle, and Four was nice enough to sneak her a mini chocolate cake, but the only thing she really wanted she could not get and she knew exactly why. It wasn't just her intimidating uncle that everyone seemed to fear more than usual nowadays, it was because she technically _still_ wasn't a Dauntless. They all still saw her as the orphan Abnegation child. And Trixie was tired of it. All she wanted to do was be treated the same. Was that too much to ask?

Trixie moved through the Dauntless compound to where her balcony was perched above the Pit, leaning forward against the bars on her forearms and clasped her hands together. Looking down, she could see some members dancing and drinking as they celebrated the death of one of their members who had passed the day before.

That was becoming a regular occurrence lately. The death of an initiate was no surprise, after all the pressure was too much sometimes, but the death of a full-fledged Dauntless member did raise some questions.

Trixie stared down at the mass of bodies dancing in a close group for a few moments before moving her gaze over to the bar area. Four was there, sitting on a stool next to a woman with light brunette hair, and Trixie felt her mood worsen. While Trixie was happy that Four had found someone he loved, it put Trixie in an awkward position.

Tris, if she remembered correctly, did not like Trixie that much since she knew Four so well, and that usually resulted in receiving some ugly glares from the female whenever Four hugged Trixie or showed her affection.

Tris was from Abnegation like they were, but it was clear she was more at home in Dauntless than her home faction.

Turning around to leave the balcony, Trixie jumped a little when she saw Eric standing at the archway of the tunnel she had come from, his hands behind his back as he stared at her with hard eyes. Despite the seriousness of his expression, the corner of his lip turned up in a smirk at seeing her surprised expression.

She gave a small blush as she cleared her throat, "Eric."

He nodded his head, "Trickster."

Since initiation, Eric had trained ruthlessly to meet the standards of a leader, and it had paid off in the end. He was a foot higher than her, maybe a bit more, his figure was broad and structured with all the new muscle he had attained from his training, and his entire stature oozed with confidence and power. His face had filled out in all the right places, giving a sharper edge to all his features, and while the sides of his hair were shaved, what was left on the top was swept back neatly out of his face. In addition to the piercings he had, Eric had gotten a new tattoo. Two lines running up and down the length of his neck, disappearing beneath the high collar of his jacket.

To sum it up, he had gone from the skinny Erudite transfer to…well…the frighteningly powerful man before her. And to make it worse, he knew that people were scared of him, and he liked it.

It was that confidence that was going to be the death of her.

She shuffled her feet under the intensity of his gaze, still unable to figure out why he stared at her whenever he saw her.

"I-Is there something you need?" She asked nervously, scratching her forearm as she looked up at him, trying not to let any more heat rise up to her face.

His smirk only got bigger as he held an arm towards her, "Walk with me."

She forced her arms to stay at her sides as she walked over to where he stood. His outstretched arm bent as his hand fell to her lower back, guiding her through the halls as they walked. Trixie felt a shiver move up her spine from his hand. She barely had any physical contact people other than Four so she was overly aware of how large his hand was against the span of her back and the pressure of each and every light push he gave her whenever he turned them down another hall. She glanced at him from the corner of her eye every now and then but each time she looked he was always facing forward, his eyes straight. So she did the same.

A few minutes later, they were making their way through the Pit. A few people were staring at them as they passed yet how could they not; Eric, the most feared leader of Dauntless walking with Trixie. But for those who didn't know who she was, well questions would certainly follow. She felt herself falter in her steps at all the attention but Eric's hand remained strong on her back as he pressed her forward, his gaze ahead of them like it always had been as he paid no attention to those around them.

Eric directed her to the entrance of the tattoo parlor and when he went to lead them inside, she pulled away from him and stopped outside, which caused him to turn towards her with a quirked brow.

"What are we doing here?" She asked hesitantly, thinking it strange how she was being brought back after being kicked out.

"I'm getting a touch-up done on my arms," He stated in a matter-of-fact tone as he gestured to his covered arms before moving them behind him back once again. "You're going to keep me company."

There was nothing in his tone that insinuated she had no option; his voice was casual as if this entire situation was normal but his words left no room for argument. She was going in with him. End of story.

Swallowing nervously, she nodded before moving to walk beside him into the parlor, the smirk evident on his lips at her obedience.

Trixie walked a step behind him as he made his way through the parlor with ease, finding his tattoo artist near the back where his station sat. Despite the large size of the cubicle that could easily fit two stations, the man sat alone as he prepped an assortment of needles, and this time Trixie knew Eric had to be up to something. The tattoo artist that was scheduled to work on Eric was the same one that had refused to work on Trixie earlier.

Resting a hand on top of the wall surrounding the man's station, Eric cleared his throat loud enough for the other to hear him. The artist turned around but saw Trixie first as he did and frowned. "How many times do I have to tell you kid? I'm not doing it so turn your ass around and get-"

Eric cleared his throat again and this time the tattoo artist took notice of him, his eyes widening and the color draining from his face.

Raising his chin a little higher, Eric addressed him, "I'm here for that touch-up we scheduled."

Time appeared to freeze for a moment before wordlessly, the artist nodded and glanced between Eric and Trixie, his posture stiff as he patted the leather chair next to him. Trixie watched as Eric gave a smile to the artist which looked out of place on his usually hardened face and walked around Trixie to enter the space. He removed his jacket and set it on the back of the chair before sitting down and putting his arms on the rests. In awe, Trixie leaned on her arms against the mini wall that came up to her chest and looked at the black artwork covering the entirety of his forearms. Thick black lines that curved like a maze took up the majority of the piece while a smaller pattern similar to a chain link covered any open space around the edges. The only thing that looked out of place were the blank circles in the middle of each the tattoos on his arms.

"You wanted the Dauntless symbol here...right?" The artist asked hesitantly, his pointer finger resting on the blank circle on Eric's left arm.

Eric gave the man a nod and the other immediately got to work on prepping one of the gel pads and a needle just incase he needed to do some detailing. Eric looked up at Trixie, catching the girl in mid-stare, and the corner of his mouth curved up into a cocky grin. She looked away in embarrassment and immediately made herself busy by looking at a wall nearby with small design plaques hanging up.

...

 **Eric**

The time passed like this in silence; Trixie walking around the parlor but never walking away too far from the artist's station and, without her noticing, Eric went back and forth between watching the artist working the gel pads on his arms to staring at Trixie as she wandered aimlessly through the parlor. She reminded him of a small mouse wandering through a house looking for cheese.

Eric hissed through his teeth when the needle first penetrated his skin and sent the artist a glare but the other man ignored it in hopes of focusing on his work and nothing else but Eric could practically feel the nervousness coming off the guy in waves. Apparently working with a needle on the small details was unavoidable.

He quickly adjusted to the sting and listened to the hum of the needle, once again finding Trixie with his gaze. She was a few yards away looking at a column with the more larger design plates and saw her eyeing a medium sized plaque with an interesting picture of black hoops hanging off one another, the circles getting smaller in size as they descended down the sheet of glass. With the way it was designed, the tattoo would start up the back between the shoulder blades and end down near a person's tailbone depending on the stranger's body size.

After a few more minutes, Trixie wandered back over to the work station Eric was at, leaning on the wall of the cubicle as she watched the artist work on his arms. No words were exchanged but Eric couldn't stop himself from staring at her. She was a curious one, that was for sure, however that wasn't always a good thing. From her previous 'record' of getting into trouble, most of the time curiosity was what got her into certain situations.

The first one, jumping of the roof with an initiate three years ago.

The other time, sneaking outside to watch some other initiates fire rounds. That was a good one.

Going out during a rainstorm to 'explore', as Max had put it, which caused a small group of Dauntless members to form a search party to find her. He had been a part of that group and he'd be lying if walking around in the rain for hours hadn't ticked him off that day.

But his most favorite had to be the food fight. Oh yes, that day had been one of the few days he had actually enjoyed as an initiate.

When Eric had still been an initiate, there had been one time when Trixie had actually stayed in the mess hall to eat her dinner instead of taking food and eating it somewhere else. The older man she had been with, who Eric later discovered was her uncle, had left her there when he had finished first, going off with Max who had come for him minutes before. That turned out to be a fatal mistake when not long after her uncle had left, three other initiates who had been Candor, came up and had dumped a huge pitcher of ice cold water on her head and one of them proceeded to make jokes towards her and her home faction Abnegation. Trixie had not made a sound when the water had been dumped on her or when they were saying horrible things about her and Abnegation; she continued to remain silent even after they left and Four had come to check on her. Instead, after a few minutes had gone by and the whole incident had seemed to be forgotten, Trixie had gotten up from her seat, threw her trash away, and was heading out when she had happened to pass by the same initiate from before and pushed his tray of food, which consisted of a white sauced pasta and water, into his lap. The boy had screamed in surprise and jumped out of his seat to wipe the food away but it had been too late. The middle of his shirt was covered in the pasta sauce and the crouch of his pants was wet from the water that had spilled on him.

And after that...well let's just say that one wrong throw made by the very same initiate was all it took for everyone to start throwing food at each other. Eric himself took part in the war when one boy had thrown a spoon full of mash potatoes, trying to hit the guy Eric had been sitting across from, and it struck Eric on the back of the head and gravy immediately slithered down the back of his neck and into his jacket. To say that the boy regretted his throw wasn't enough; after Eric had been done with him, the kid had probably regretted _every_ bad thing he'd done in his life.

Max had guards stationed in the corners of the mess hall to prevent anything like that from happening again. And Trixie was no longer allowed to eat in the mess hall with everyone else. Even now, Eric never saw her in the room ever since that incident.

"Alright, you're all set." The artist's statement brought Eric from his thoughts and he looked down at his arms to see the completed pieces. The blank circles that had been in the middle of his arms were now filled in the with symbol of Dauntless, the ink slightly shining like glaze against the skin of his arm. It would fade after some time, leaving only the black imprint of a flame to blend in with the rest of the art.

Eric nodded at the artist, coming to a stand from the station's chair and grabbing his jacket off the back of it, opting to hold onto it for now and let the ink settle into his skin more. He looked around and realized Trixie had wandered off again, only this time she stood a bit aways looking at a glass case with an assortment of piercings.

The artist stood as well, planning on going over to the register machine so he could take Eric's points for payment, however the Dauntless leader held up his hand to stop him and ordered "wait here" before going over to where Trixie stood.

 **...**

She was so absorbed in the different pieces of metal that she failed to notice Eric beside her until he spoke next to her ear, "See something you like?"

Eric gave her credit for not jumping when he made his presence known, however he was amused by the reddening of her ears as she continued to stare down at the case, shrugging her shoulders instead of replying.

Eric stared at her for a moment longer before looking down at the case as well, his eyes not taking long to find something that caught his attention. He moved to stand more in front of her, shoving his jacket into her arms so he could use both hands to open the glass box. Using one hand to keep it open, Eric reached inside and pulled the piercing out, holding it up to his face to inspect it closely. It wasn't too bad.

Behind him, Trixie was staring at his arms, the muscles slightly straining to keep the thick sheet of glass open, but his face showed no sign of struggle. He really had become a different person since joining Dauntless but she didn't think that in a bad way. Eric seemed to fit here in black clothes than the blue of Erudite.

Satisfied with his pick, Eric closed the case carefully before turning to Trixie, taking his jacket back from her before ushering her back towards the artist, who still stood motionless at his station where Eric had left him. He pushed Trixie roughly into the seat but she made no sound of protest, only staring up at him curiously as he addressed the tattoo artist. He held up the silver piercing he had taken from the case out to the other man, "She'll take this one."

The artist took the piercing from Eric and stared at it for a few seconds before looking back to Eric, "Sir, I can't-...She's not-..."

The man struggled to find the right words but Eric raised a brow and asked, "Is there a problem?"

There was something in his tone that Trixie couldn't identify but the artist apparently could when he swallowed nervously before shaking his head and replying, "No sir...no problem at all."

Eric gave the man a fake smile and nodded. "Good."

The two stared at each other for a moment before the artist looked away, sitting down in his chair and started prepping the needle he would use to pierce Trixie's ear.

Eric stared at the back of the man's head for a minute longer before going to grab a spare chair from the neighboring work station, dragging it over next to where Trixie sat.

The said girl sat with her hands in her lap, looking down at nothing in particular but looked up to meet Eric's stare. She fought the sudden rush of heat to her face and cleared her throat before asking, "Is this really okay? I don't want anyone to get in trouble."

Eric waved her off. "Not your concern."

She stared at him for a moment longer before turning to the tattoo artist who had swiveled around in his chair to face her, the needle puncher in one hand and the small piercing in the other. Trixie eyed the small contraption nervously, taking her bottom lip between her teeth, but kept silent as the artist scooted his chair closer until he was right next to her. He loaded the piercing into the needle puncher and reached to take her ear in his hand. However Trixie was surprised when instead of grabbing her earlobe, he grabbed the upper part of her ear gently between two fingers, and placed the puncher where the metal earring was made to go.

"Alright I'm gonna pierce your ear in three, two-"

Trixie made a small noise of surprise when he suddenly pierced her ear without finishing the countdown, pulling away from him and reaching up to feel her ear for blood. But instead of the warm skin she was expecting, her fingers met the cold metal of the earring that was now in the upper part of her ear.

"Hold still, I'm not done." The artist told her with a frustrated sigh, annoyed by her childish reaction as she continued to lean away from him. When she wouldn't comply, he reached towards her in attempt to finish securing the piercing on her ear, but Eric suddenly leaned forward in his chair, grabbing the man's wrist and pushing it away harshly.

"Start the transaction for the payment." He ordered, cutting off any protests the man was about to give with a cold stare.

The artist looked between Trixie and Eric, hesitating in whether or not he should listen to Eric, but he must have realized the smarter decision and gave a small sigh before standing up and exiting the cubicle, heading straight for the register to start the transaction like Eric had said.

When he was a good distance away, Eric moved his chair to the right so he could sit directly across from Trixie, and pulled her forward to sit on the edge of her chair. He grabbed her by her chin and turned her face roughly to the side, examining the new earring and noticed a small bit of blood was welling up where she was pierced. Breathing out through his nose, he kept a firm grip on her chin and reached for the box of tissues on the work table next to him. Grabbing one, he pressed it to her ear so it could absorb what blood it could before pulling it away, wiping any excess blood he might have missed.

After a few seconds, the blood had stopped coming and Eric threw the bloody tissue away in a trash bin underneath the table. "Lean forward." He ordered her and she did as she was told; leaning forward as far as she could go but not so much that it was uncomfortable.

She couldn't see what he was doing as he finished what the artist hadn't, but she heard a small click before he pulled away and let go of her ear. He leaned back in his chair and stared at her. Seconds passed and neither one of them spoke. Trixie forced herself to keep her eyes down and stare at her lap, ignoring his sharp gaze as he continued to openly stare.

Without looking away, he reached for the small mirror behind him further back on the table and grabbed it, holding it out for her to take.

She hesitated for a moment mid-reach before taking it from him, holding it up at the right angle to get a good look at her ear.

On the upper part of her ear was a small, silver earring that wrapped around her ear like a cuff and was bare of any designs except for the symbol of Dauntless branded right in the middle of it.

It wasn't flashy, just small and very simple, yet Trixie couldn't help but instantly become attached. She loved it. It stood out against her black hair and she unconsciously tucked a few strands behind her ear to get a better view of it.

As she continued to stare at it, she had this overwhelming urge to jump up, run out of the parlor, and find Four so she could show him her new earring. She could already imagine some of the looks she would get when people would see-

Uh oh.

Her uncle would see it.

Trixie's entire frame froze as held the small mirror, her grip on the object made her knuckles turn white, and Eric noticed this change immediately.

What is it?" He asked, trying to keep his frustration out of his voice.

She swallowed slowly, her grip loosening only a little as she lowered the mirror away from her face, "It's nothing."

Eric exhaled sharply through his nose and crossed his arms at his chest. "You don't like it." He stated bluntly.

Her head whipped up and Trixie exclaimed, "No I love it!"

Realizing she was being extremely loud, heat flooded her cheeks and she looked down again in hopes he wouldn't see her blush. Which he did, however he found no amusement in it at the moment. "It's just..." She trailed off as she moved her thumbs across the edge of the mirror, not knowing what to say. While Trixie didn't want to lie to Eric, she also didn't want to flat out express her fear of her uncle's wrath. That was a private matter.

She looked up and met his hard, questioning gaze and repeated, "I love it."

Eric stared at her, knowing that there was more than what she was saying, but he chose not to push the subject further. It was none of his business and it wasn't like he was dying to know what she was going to say.

"Good."

Standing up, he grabbed his jacket off the table where he had set it, moving to exit the cubicle, and headed straight for the register where the artist stood patiently. He heard Trixie follow him after a second and didn't bother turning around to see how close she was.

After the transaction was complete, the two walked out of the parlor side by side, pausing at the entrance for only a moment before Eric turned to the left and started walking down the hall. Trixie stared after him, remaining rooted to the spot as she watched him move further and further away. After about a dozen steps however, he paused and turned just enough to look at her over his shoulder, one brow raised. When nothing happened, he jerked his head to the side gesturing towards the hall he was going down, and it dawned on Trixie that he expected her to follow.

She ran a for a moment to catch up before slowing down to a walk before stopping completely next to him. The two stared at each other, Eric opening his mouth to say something before closing it right after, deciding against it. Trixie waited for him to say something, anything to fill the silence, however he simply exhaled through his nose and shook his head before continuing down the hall; this time Trixie followed closely behind him.

What did he want to say?

They continued walking down the empty halls, their footsteps echoing as they went. They passed by one to two people, both promptly staring at the pair as they went. Trixie didn't blame them. The feared Dauntless leader Eric walking with the Abnegation orphan twice in one day?

Her uncle was going to throw a fit.

When they came upon intersecting tunnels, Trixie looked up to see three initiates heading their way. By the way they were laughing and and goofing off, they must have finished their training for the day. The trio seemed to notice they were no longer the only ones in the tunnels and grew somewhat silent, but Trixie felt herself move slightly closer to Eric when she saw they were leering at her in a way that made her cheeks grow red; one of them was even brave enough to cat-call at her.

Eric noticed the sudden closeness of the small girl next to him and could feel how uncomfortable she was so he sent a cold glare at the trio as they passed, silencing them completely after the one had whistled at her.

Dauntless had received a good batch of initiates this year, most of them Dauntless-born, but no one really looked at that due to the large number. But Eric would be lying if he claimed he wasn't...worried about this year's batch. While most showed promise, there were a few that seemed a little too arrogant for his liking, and it showed in their training. They had a wild energy about them, making them careless and unaware of the consequences their actions held. Not exactly the kind of person Eric would want watching his back.

The two came upon another intersection not much later. One way led to the Pit where a party was going on, the other heading straight for the elevator that would take them to the living quarters.

He took a step in the direction of the Pit but stopped and turned to Trixie who stood with her arms crossed behind her, a look of hesitance on her face that showed him exactly what she was thinking. She didn't think going to the Pit was a good idea and he agreed whole-heartedly. However the image of those three initiates burned in the forefront of his mind and his nostrils flared at the thought of her being approached by them again but this time she would be alone. With that, he straightened his stance as he stood erect before ordering, "Go straight to your quarters. Don't talk to anyone."

At first, Trixie wanted to protest, believing he had no right to order her around since she wasn't technically a Dauntless, but the hard look in his eyes told her that if she even tried defying him at that point then he would throw her over his shoulder and take her up himself. So Trixie gave him a nod and she saw his hard look lessen a little at her agreement.

Without saying anything else, He turned his back to her and headed straight for the Pit, Trixie staring after him until he was out of sight.

...

 **Two Weeks Later...**

Initiation was coming to a close, the initiates who had managed to make it through the second phase were going through their final simulation in a couple of days. Soon, the Dauntless family would get bigger, and with the new people were possible friends Trixie hoped to make. Not all the initiates knew her Abnegation past, so hopefully this year she would get the opportunity to make new friends.

While Four was her best friend, he had Tris and his job to juggle, and she didn't want to get in between that. They weren't kids anymore, so she couldn't depend on him for everything without getting him into trouble along the way.

But maybe...now she would be able to change that.

She was trying to locate the man himself who was supposed to be by the bar area tonight with Tris. But from her perch on her balcony, he was nowhere in sight of the bar area and he wasn't in the mass of dancing bodies either. So where was he?

He had asked to meet with her briefly to discuss whether or not she would choose to stay in Dauntless next year for the Choosing, which was what Trixie wanted to do, however she also had to keep in mind what her test would also say about where she belonged. And she really really hoped it would tell her that she was meant for Dauntless because even though she didn't want to admit it, she was terrified of leaving, and that was because leaving Dauntless for another faction meant she would have to start over again. She didn't want to do that.

After waiting a few minutes and still no sign of Four in the Pit, she sighed in defeat and decided she would just talk to him tomorrow before he left for breakfast. She went to turn and leave when she happened to glance down at one of the tunnel entrances and saw a familiar figure that she hadn't seen in a few days. Eric's back was to her as he walked down the tunnel and out of sight, the direction he was going indicated that he was heading for the front entrance of the compound, and she found herself turning around to head into the tunnel behind her. Going in a slow jog, she headed in the same direction in hopes of catching him before he left, wanting to thank him properly for the piercing since she technically didn't say the words at the time he had gotten it for her.

The tunnels were surprisingly empty, Trixie's footsteps echoing off the walls as she jogged towards her destination, and she couldn't fight the small smile on her lips at the thought of seeing Eric. Yes, he was a leader and she wasn't even a part of his faction, but that didn't seem to change how he acted around her. The Eric she knew was the exact same one the Dauntless members knew. Intimidating, arrogant, strict, and even cruel at times. It didn't bother her though. He was the same person all the time.

She took a sharp right at a four way intersection and could see the bridge over the Chasm that was a sign that she was close to the front of the compound, but found herself sliding to a stop when three figures suddenly stepped out in front of the bridge from around the corner.

The one standing in the middle looked her up and down in a way that made her stomach churn and the hairs on the back of her neck raise in apprehension.

And she immediately knew something was wrong.

...

The kick to her middle sent her rolling across the floor, gasping for air as she forced the contents of her stomach not to come up, and came to rest on her hands and knees when another kick was delivered straight to her face. Blinded by pain and unable to find the strength to even sit up, Trixie cradled her head in her arms, curling into a ball hoping it to make her head stop throbbing.

Someone stomped on one of her ankles but she was unable to find the breath to cry out when another person stomped on her side knocking the air from her lungs.

How had it gotten this bad?

Trixie's body was so focused on the pain that she didn't stop them from rolling her onto her back, her vision blurred as she stared at the ceiling. She could feel the weight of one of the initiates as he straddled her, grabbed the neckline of her tank top, and pulled her closer to him before landing another punch to her face; blood spewing from her mouth onto the tile floor. She could hear him snarl hateful words to her about her Abnegation background but couldn't focus on what it was he was said since her head hurt too much to try.

Her mind managed to clear up a bit when she heard the sound of ripping fabric and her stomach was exposed to cool air. Fear burned through most of the pain Trixie was feeling and she grabbed the man on top of her by his wrists. She pushed down on a pressure point her uncle had showed her not too long ago and the man cried out in pain, cradling his hands to his chest as he rolled off of her, but her luck ran quickly out when another one came over and grabbed her by her hair, lifting her face high enough for him to land a punch that almost knocked her out cold.

Her body was in so much pain. She could feel the blood dripping down her face from her nose in a steady flow and the stinging of her bottom lip told her it was split. Her whole body ached and stung with from the blows she took and her consciousness was slowing slipping from her. But she didn't want to close her eyes. Trixie knew what would happen if she did.

Her body was rolled onto her back once more but this time she felt her pants being tugged off and sliding down her legs. Her hands get pinned on either side of her head by one man while another worked on removing her shoes since her pants were stuck on them. Trixie's head rolled over to the side to see the third one working on his own pants, his belt clinking as he tried to roll the zipper down.

Suddenly her shoes were gone as well as her pants and her legs were forced apart, the grip on her ankles painfully tight, and with what strength she had left she thrashed her legs so hard the man actually failed to hold on and her foot caught him in the chin so hard he bit his tongue. His head went back and he cupped his chin which was now covered in blood coming from his mouth.

The man that was working on his pants moved towards his friend to check how bad it was but got roughly pushed aside and suddenly Trixie was being straddled by the same man she kicked; only this time his hands went to her throat and squeezed.

 _Someone...help me..._

 _Someone…make it stop..._

Trixie's vision started to turn black and she barely managed to keep her eyes open long enough to see a hand fly in from the corner of her vision; grabbing the guy from the back of his shirt and ripping him off her. A second later, a foot swung in right above her face and kicked the man by her head holding down her hands, and she found herself free.

Letting out a series of horrid coughs, Trixie rolled onto her side back into a ball, and saw the back of the man standing between her and the other three. She caught the sight of one of the three lying on the ground completely still before her eyes close.

Right as she lost consciousness, she heard a cry of surprise, and then a loud _snap_ followed by a _thud._

Then, everything went silent.

 _..._

She had been assaulted. Almost raped.

The three that had attacked her were three initiates who had failed the final phase and were going to become Factionless. They were also the same one's who she had passed by in the tunnel with Eric.

Two of them were dead. One with a knife in his chest and the other with a broken neck. The third one got away. No one had been able to find him.

Trixie had been saved at the last second but she didn't know who by. And the doctor who had been treating her wouldn't say.

A few days had passed before she was allowed to leave to medical area but with one sprained ankle and the second one severely bruised, she was going to be forced to use a wheelchair; however Four had decided to embarrass Trixie by carrying her back to her apartment himself. From there she was forced to stay in bed for a couple of weeks before her ankles were deemed healed enough for her to walk around with only a little discomfort but weeks longer before the rest of her body was healed enough for her to get off the pain medication they had given her.

And during the entire time she was healing, her uncle Johnathan had Four stay with her during the day before returning in the evening, and then he would stay awake for most of the night to watch over her and wake up her in case she had a nightmare. Anything he had said was about how weak she was and that weakness was the reason she became as injured as she was but his eye's told her how sad he had been to see her in such a state; it also showed how angry he was as well. Anything he had taught her on how to defend herself did nothing to lessen the damage done to her so Johnathan had decided that he would train her more vigorously when she was fully healed and able.

But there was another reason why he had stayed awake during the night while she was healing.

The third culprit was still nowhere to be found.

Not once had she seen Eric during the time she was healing and in all honesty, he was the one she wanted to see most. But why would he come to see her?

...

 **Months Later...**

This was it. The time had finally come.

It was the day for her Aptitude Test.

Trixie sat in a small room with three others her age; two of them wearing the blue of Erudite and the other wearing the soft red and yellow of Amity. Trixie herself was wearing a grey dress from Abnegation; long sleeves that extended to her knuckles with a square neck line in the front, the bottom covering her black boots. Her hair was in a traditional bun with and any strands that managed to fall loose were tucked behind her ear.

It felt weird being there, waiting to see what her test results would be, and tell her what her future _might_ be. While she knew the tests would tell her what faction she would excel at, she also remembered that the choice was entirely up to her.

Time passed and each initiate waiting in the room with her would go into the testing room and come out a few minutes later, their expressions unreadable; though one could tell that the effects of the serum lingered as they walked out as if in a daze.

By the time it was her turn, Trixie's hands were gripping the sides of her dress tightly from how nervous she was, and she was hesitant to go inside. If she went inside there was a good chance that everything could change when she came back out.

A door opened behind her and Trixie turned to see Four entering the waiting room. His eyes widened when he saw her but it only lasted for a second before his expression turned neutral. He walked past her going to the Dauntless woman overseeing the results of the others who had taken their aptitude test before Trixie. He whispered something in her ear and she nodded in understanding before switching out with him and leaving the room. Why they switched Trixie didn't know but she was extremely grateful for it. The nervous feeling in her stomach settled a small bit and she didn't hesitate to enter the room when Four silently ushered her inside.

Four closed the door behind him while Trixie took a moment to take in the small room. All the walls were mirrors and right smack in the middle was a metal chair that reminded her of what was in a dentist's office; just looking at it was intimidating.

"It's been awhile since I've seen you wear Abnegation clothes." Four commented as he walked over to the monitor next to the metal chair and began typing something into the screen.

Trixie looked at his reflection on the mirror and caught his eye for a moment before he went back to the monitor but the small smirk on his lips didn't escape her attention.

She managed to give him a small smile in return and confessed, "It feels weird wearing them; even if it is my home faction."

Her arms came up to wrap around her torso and she breathed deeply through her nose to calm herself. Trixie wasn't going to admit that she was nervous. Four could probably tell just by look at her but he had no idea just how nervous she was.

"Alright we're all set," He told her before holding a hand out for for and gestured for her to come closer. "Just take a seat and we can begin."

Trixie turned away from the mirrored wall and walked over to where Four stood next to the metal chair. Taking his hand, she used it as leverage to push herself onto the metal chair which was more intimidating up close than she imagined. She quickly settled herself into the chair and leaned her head back, keeping still as Four hooked her up to the monitor, and took the small vial filled with blue liquid when he offered it to her. The taste was something she couldn't compare with anything she had before but she forced herself to swallow before handing the glass back to Four. He took it from her a second later before ordering her to close her eyes and relax, telling her that the serum would take effect any moment, and wishing her good luck.

She blinked once and she stared at the ceiling. Nothing happened.

She blinked again.

The ceiling was gone.

She was staring at the night sky.

...

 **Four**

When Trixie fell unconscious after drinking the serum, Four only watched her still form for a few moments before turning his attention to the monitor, and waited.

And waited.

And waited some more.

But nothing was happening. The monitor remained blank.

The only thing he _could_ watch at this point was her heart rate in the corner of the screen but even that remained unchanging. Normally while an initiate was taking their test, their heart rate would have spiked by now even if it was a little when adjusting to whatever surroundings they were in, but the lack of reaction made Four's brow crease with confusion and worry. What was happening?

He turned to face her body lying on the chair and called her names a couple of times, even snapping his fingers an inch or two away from her face for some kind of reaction in case she was faking it, but her eyes remained closed and her body unmoving. For extra precaution, he lightly tapped her cheek with a finger only for her head to roll to the side. Nope, she wasn't faking it. Then what was happening?

Four head snapped to the monitor with wide eyes. Did...did the screen just glitch? From the corner of his eye, he could have sworn that he saw a different picture on the screen of the monitor, but looking at it now it was still blank. He stared at the monitor for a couple of minutes and went to pass it off as him seeing things when the screen changed again.

The screen turned white and the monitor gave off a high pitched noise that made Four flinch and wanting him to cover his ears.

With the intent to pull Trixie out of the test and turning off the system, Four gripped either side of the monitor to look for the manual power button since the screen wouldn't work, but it short circuited and gave him a small shock that had him ripping his hands off the device and backing away. Sparks flew out from the sides before the screen turned black.

The lights went out, covering them in total darkness.

Little did he know that the entire Dauntless compound had lost power.

...

Sitting with the Abnegation faction felt more foreign to Trixie than it had in her entire life. Even though she was from there she couldn't help but feel more at home with those of Dauntless who were all sitting together in a group on the other side of the room.

It was time. It was her Choosing Day.

Though she wasn't supposed to, she couldn't help but look around at the faces of all the other initiates there with her. They were all facing forward, maybe two or three staring down at their laps. When her eyes locked with her uncle Johnathan who was standing along the wall as security detail, his narrow glare had her looking down at her lap as well, feeling like a child being caught with their hand in the cookie jar, but the feeling didn't last long when someone walked up on stage at the front of the room.

This year, they had Dauntless representative leading the Choosing Ceremony, and Trixie felt her heart speed up at the sight of Eric standing on the stage.

Wearing a black high collared jacket that went to his knees and a tight shirt with pants and boots, Eric's presence dominated the stage and stole everyone's attention as he looked over the batch of initiates from each section. When his eyes fell over Abnegation, she hoped his eyes would find her to see that she was an initiate as well, but was met with disappointment when his eyes merely passed over her with little to no interest or recognition.

His voice was strong and firm as he began the same speech given every year when it was Choosing Day; she had never heard it herself but Four had given her a condensed version of what was said when someone gave it.

As he was speaking about initiates choosing a Faction, Trixie couldn't help but think about her Aptitude Test.

There had been a power outage and the entire compound lost power for a full thirty six hours. Only a handful of the back up generators came on, the majority of them refusing to do the same, and her uncle had told her that the cause was still unknown. Because of the power outage, Trixie hadn't gotten the results of her test; even Four was at a loss for words as to what she should do and denied her the option to take the test again and he wouldn't tell her why.

Before long, Eric had gestured to the bowls that represented each faction behind him and gave a small description for each one before telling him before telling them the decision was theirs and began calling names.

They started with Dauntless, each initiate coming up and slicing their palm with the knife Eric offered to them, and surprisingly the majority of them left their home faction to join another. When Trixie looked at her uncle to gauge his reaction, he didn't seem too happy, but when she looked at Eric it was almost impossible to see what he was thinking. The few that did stay looked like they belonged there; one female initiate specifically stood out. Trixie didn't catch her name when she was called but she walked onto the stage with her head held high and a confidence in her walk that only belonged to those of Dauntless. Her brunette hair was in a high ponytail flipped over her right shoulder, her skin lightly tanned making Trixie believe she had spent a decent amount of time outdoors, and her eyes were a vivid violet that Trixie had never seen before. She wore a black leather jacket that was only zipped up a few inches, showing off the low cut tank top beneath, and a pair of cargo pants that were tucked into snug combat boots similar to what Eric had on. When Eric handed her the knife, she made the display of flipping it effortlessly in her hand a few times before cutting her own palm and letting the blood drip onto the hot coals of Dauntless.

The shouts and cheers of welcoming one of their own back seemed more out of relief than excitement as the young female tossed the knife lazily back to Eric who caught it with ease before wiping the blood off and holding it behind his back.

The next faction to go up was Candor and everyone was surprised when every initiate choose to go to a different faction rather than stay in their home faction. Even Eric seemed skeptical about the new development as he eyed the three new initiates from Candor.

After that was Erudite and most people weren't as shocked when most of the initiates choose to remain in their home faction, maybe two of them going to another faction. Trixie glanced at their leader, Jeanine, and found her expression to be rather blank but her eyes hinted that she was unhappy at losing two of their members to another faction.

Amity was next after Erudite and two of their members joined Dauntless, the cheers of the current members echoing throughout the entire room at getting even more possible members added to their faction. The second one, a petite little thing that was even shorter than Trixie, had tripped on her way up the stairs and flushed red with embarrassment from everyone witnessing it. Trixie gave her credit though when she accepted the blade and sliced her palm without even flinching, letting the blood drop onto the hot coals before handing the knife back to Eric and making her way over to her new faction.

Now it was time for Abnegation. Trixie couldn't help but feel nervous at the fact that after today her life would either continue on as normal or change entirely. Even though she already knew what her choice was, she didn't know what other people might think, and that included Eric who was calling name after name on the list.

When she heard her name being called, Trixie rose from her chair and made her way down from the row she was sitting in, and walked up the small set of stairs on the side of the stage that led up to where Eric stood waiting.

However once she stood on the stage itself, only needing to take a few steps forward, she found herself rooted to the spot, and her fear made itself known.

Murmurs spread across the room, most wondering why she wasn't moving while a few recognized her as the orphan of Abnegation, but the rest of them could guess why she was frozen. She was afraid. And they were right.

Trixie was terrified of making this decision because it was obvious to her now that her life was going to change no matter what she chose. If she went back to Abnegation, her life would be peaceful and quiet, but everyone in the faction would always pity her and feel sorry for what happened to her parents. If she went to Dauntless, she had a chance of proving that she had overcome the sadness left behind with the passing of her parents and showing how strong she was, but to become Dauntless meant she would have to face her fears and become someone different than who she was now.

She was gripping the sides of her dress as she struggled through her thoughts but brought herself back to the present when she noticed that everything had gone completely quiet. She looked up to find Eric standing three feet away from her with an expression somewhere between recognition and a bit of surprise but the latter was gone a second later.

He remembered her.

He _knew_ her.

The little girl who had helped him as an initiate.

The one he had bought a piercing for on her fifteenth birthday.

If he was honest he had to admit that when he'd first seen her sitting with Abnegation, he didn't recognize her right away because of her hair being in a bun out of her face and the grey dress that much different from the black clothes he had last seen her in. But up close he could see it was her, the 'trickster'.

His expression remained blank as he studied her panicked face; it was clear in her eyes that she was somewhat torn.

Without another word, Eric lifted a hand from behind his back and stood to the side as he swung it out as a gesture for her to move forward towards the table.

Trixie hesitated for a moment longer before taking a slow step forward followed by another and another.

Eric moved forward with her, his hand going to rest on the low area of her back like the time when they had walked to the tattoo parlor together, leading her towards the table and urging her closer to it. Instead of let her thoughts wander towards the fact that everyone was most likely confused by the display she and Eric were showing, Trixie focused on the feeling of his hand on her lower back, and the heat his body was giving her from how close he was.

Eric immediately removed his hand once she stood before table and held the knife out for her to take before moving a step back to observe.

Trixie stared at the knife in her hand, noticing that it was rather heavy despite it's small size. Turning her hand palm up, she pressed the blade into the skin and sliced a little deeper than intended which made her flinch, but she closed her hand into a fist to keep it from bleeding over for the moment as she looked between the grey stones of Abnegation and the hot coals of Dauntless. One was a life she knew and loved, the life her parents taught her, and the other was the life she wanted but her doubts told her there was no telling if it was meant to be.

Eric's presence invaded her thoughts and she realized that he had moved closer to her again and was now standing behind her right shoulder.

She kept her head bowed to not give her awareness away but even then Eric could tell she knew he was there. Her shoulders had tensed for a moment before relaxing, which was interesting to Eric since most people knew better than to let their guard down around him. It was a sign of trust and it was strange to him how they barely knew each other yet she seemed to trust him completely.

Only time would tell if it was a mistake or not.

"I hope you have chosen wisely initiates," Eric yelled as he turned away to face the factions, "Because they choice you make today will define who you are _and_ what you want to be."

There was silence as the audience seemed to contemplate his words but for Trixie it was something else.

She knew who she wanted to be.

Without hesitating this time, Trixie held her palm over the bowl and let her blood drip onto the hot coals of Dauntless with a hiss.

Eric announced her decision to the crowd and a second later the members of Dauntless broke out into a cheer and clapped as a welcome to their newest member.

Trixie set the knife on the table before turning and was met with the sight of Eric smirking at her and saying, "Welcome to Dauntless Trickster, I hope you won't disappoint."

He grabbed her wrist and pushed a white cloth into her hand against the bloody cut, her nose scrunching up in discomfort but she gripped the cloth tightly as he led her off to the other side of the stage where the second pair of stairs were. Trixie sat with Dauntless and was greeted with more cheers and pats on the back welcoming her to the family. She smiled and nodded in thanks before turning back to the stage to find Eric staring at her with an expression like he had won a war.

However, for Trixie, the war had just begun.

...

 **Alright guys, that's the end of Chapter 2! I hope you guys liked it because I actually struggled with this chapter more than you realize.**

 **Yes, Tris is gonna be in this, there will be no love triangle so don't get your hopes up, but Four and Trixie will be close throughout the story and they will share moments that would make any female jealous *wink wink* LOL**

 **Anyways, tell me what you think by reviewing. Those are key to getting the next update...well that and Following my story if you haven't LOL**

 **Thanks again for the love guys and I can't wait to see what you have to say!**

 **~CoolCat0720**


	3. Chapter 3

**~HAPPY NEW YEAR PEEPS~**

 **I tried to get this uploaded right on New Years but I fucked up and forgot I had to read over it again to make sure I didn't make too many mistakes LOL So forgive me for being a bit late hahaha**

 **Anyways, I know this chapter is a bit shorter than the first two but I'm not gonna lie I couldn't really find a way to extend it without making it extremely long, which means it would have been even longer until the next update, and I didn't want to do that to you guys...SO BE VERY GREATFUL!**

 **Initiation begins for Trixie so lets see how the first day goes shall we?**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Divergent series or any of it's characters. Ryu and Tonya belong to ChaosChick21 (I really hope I spelled that right LOL). I only own my OCs.**

 **Chapter 3) Feeling Welcomed?**

If there was one thing Trixie was absolutely horrid at, it was running, and it wasn't a joke. Out of all the different exercises she had been taught and shown by her uncle and Four, running long distances was at the very bottom of the list of things she was good at physically.

At the moment, the second to last initiate running to catch the train was a good ten feet in front of her, and the fact that she wasn't even at the bridge and climbing already was a really bad sign.

Groaning in frustration, Trixie reached down and grabbed the bottom of her dress before picking up the pace, but began to worry when the sound of the train approaching sounded much too close for comfort. By the time she had reached the columns that held up the train tracks, the initiate that had been running in front of her was already more than half way up the column and the train sounded even closer.

But luckily one of the few things she was good at since she was little happened to be climbing. And the column before her now was nothing. If anything, it would be easier than when she had to help Four down from climbing too high in an abandoned building when they were just children.

Trixie rolled up her sleeves before hiking her dress skirt up to her knees as she got a good foothold before pulling herself. The climb was taking her longer than she would have liked and when she leaned her body back a tiny bit she could see the train coming around the bend from behind a building. She maybe had twenty seconds to get up the rest of the way before the train would be upon them; that thought alone had her pushing her muscles to climb faster.

She was about three feet away from the top when a hand reached down in front of her and she looked up to be met with the face of the brunette Dauntless born from before, her violet eyes staring at Trixie with a hint of urgency, and a smirk on her face. "Come on stiff! Do you wanna make that train or not?" She asked as she nodded at Trixie for her to grab the offered hand.

Trixie hesitated for only a moment, seeing no distrust or any sign that the girl meant her ill will, and nodded in thanks before grabbing the hand held out for her. "The names Tonya by the way." The girl told her as she pulled Trixie up the rest of the way, steadying her before releasing her hand.

"Trixie." She told Tonya as they watched the train get closer. Though she didn't turn, Tonya nodded in acknowledgement before she began running along side the train as it reached them.

Trixie followed Tonya's example and began running next to the train, catching up and waiting for Tonya to pull herself up first before following her shortly after. Her skirt almost caught when climbing into the train but Tonya acted fast and pulled the material up before it could catch on anything. Trixie thanked her but Tonya merely shrugged her shoulders, replying with something that sounded close to 'it's gonna get tossed anyways'.

Looking around the cabin, Trixie felt a case of déjà vu coming on from her experience with Four years ago when he had pulled her onto the train on her way to the compound during his initiation when she noticed that the cabin was chucked full of Dauntless born. Everyone was staring at her; some with a look of indifference while others stared at her with a nasty glare. Yeah, this was the wrong train cabin to end up in.

Tonya saw the looks from the others and couldn't stop the laugh the escaped her which made Trixie stare at her with a confused expression, waiting for an explanation. Tonya waved her off though before leaning against the frame of the cabin opening, her arms crossed at her chest. Trixie continued to stare though, wanting to know what was so funny to the brunette that she wasn't sharing because clearly the current situation was anything but funny; it was rather uncomfortable actually.

Trixie wanted to ask but didn't get the chance when she felt the train beginning to slow and she leaned out to see a familiar group of low buildings that meant the compound was near. The train must have been going faster than she realized. A second later, initiates in the two cabins before hers were jumping out onto the rooftops, and Trixie knew it was time. Without another word, Trixie grabbed Tonya's hand and pulled her to the back to the other side of the cabin, grateful when the other female showed no resistance since she probably already knew what was coming. She glanced at the other initiates around her, noticing how a few of them had gone a bit pale when it dawned on them that it was time to jump, and wondered how they could be born into Dauntless when they were scared of jumping off the train like they had done hundreds of times before.

Trixie looked to Tonya who, giving her a smirk, squeezed her hand only once before the two of them ran forward together and jumped, Tonya giving a holler of excitement before they let go of each other, and landed a few feet apart.

Tonya landed and rolled into a crouch with cat like grace, showing that this was most definitely not her first time, but Trixie wasn't as lucky when she continued to roll a bit more before stopping. Her elbows were unscathed unlike the time she jumped off with Four but unfortunately the cloth that had been tied around her cut hand from the ceremony came off when she attempted to slow herself and now had small bits of rock and dirt in the wound, making it sting horribly.

Coming to a stand, she wiped her other hand on the side of her dress before slowing picking out the small bits of rock out of the cut as best as she could but was interrupted by Tonya calling her from the roof of the next building to the right, waving her over to follow as she tilted her head in the direction of where the other initiates were gathering about two roofs away. Trixie quickly followed after Tonya, doing her best to ignore the stinging pain in her cut hand, and focused on her balance as she crossed over the planks that connected each roof to another. Tonya was nice enough to wait for her so they could walk towards the group together and they stopped around the edge of the crowd right as a voice called out.

"Listen closely initiates!" Someone yelled. Trixie immediately recognized the person as Max and she peaked over the tops of everyone's heads by stretching on her toes to confirm this for herself when she saw the man standing on the edge of the building; just like that time years ago when she was twelve. "Since you have chosen Dauntless, I'm at liberty to tell you that you will face many trials in order to truly call yourself one of us."

He paused, eyes narrowed as his gaze swept across the group, and added, "Your first trial begins now."

With his hands clasped behind his back, Max rocked on his heels while still on the ledge, nearly giving Trixie a heart attack thinking he was going to fall, and he said, "The only way into the compound is over this ledge and down below us."

…

 **Tonya**

Silence lasted only for a few seconds before murmurs broke out among the initiates. The transfers obviously did not expect this turn of events and were not very happy about the choice they had to make.

Tonya looked around to see the nervous expressions on most of the initiate's faces except her own. Instead, she smirked to herself and thought how easy initiation was going to be if more than half of the initiates here were all chicken shits.

She turned to express this to Trixie but stopped herself right as she noticed that the area next to her was vacant of her raven-haired acquaintance. She looked around her in confusion; had she chickened out already? Was she afraid of heights or something?

Tonya glanced behind her and did a double take when she spotted Trixie backing up towards the edge of the building, a smile on the girl's face and her eyes burning with determination. It only took Tonya a moment to guess what she was going to do before she was moving forward and shoving people to the side, shouting for them to move and get out of the way. Despite the protests and the complaints thrown her way, Tonya made sure there was a clear path straight down the middle before she looked back just in time to watch Trixie sprint at full speed, passing everyone as they made sounds of surprise, and watched her jump over the ledge before disappearing out of sight.

Running forward, Tonya skidded to a stop next to a bewildered Max, and looked down to see Trixie for a moment as she vanished inside the hole below. The two of them only stared for a moment longer before Max leaned back and pinched the bridge of his nose and muttered, "That girl is gonna' be more trouble than she's worth."

Tonya gave the man a grin and said, "The stiff's got guts. I like her."

With that, Tonya hopped onto the ledge before following after the girl.

…

Standing inside the initiate's bunker, Trixie realized it was more spacious than she had pictured previously. The room itself was long enough to fit two rows of fifteen bunk beds and wide enough to that there was plenty of space between each bed; next to and across. The mattresses were a little more firm than the average bed but the comforters adorning each bed, although plain and black in color, were thick and heavy which would provide warmth from the chill of the bunker. At the head of each bed, top bunk and bottom, was a small shelf with a pile of black clothing meant for initiates who were transferring factions.

"Care to be my bunk mate?" Tonya spoke next to Trixie's ear, causing the girl to instinctively whirl around and step away, a small blush resting on her cheeks from embarrassment. She was really going to have to watch her surroundings if she wanted to avoid getting any more heart attacks.

She ignored Tonya's smirk and went to answer when she saw a flash of ginger and looked over Tonya's shoulder to spot a small female being cornered by two males, both of them a foot and a half higher than the girl.

Passing Tonya, Trixie walked over to the trio and met the girl's eyes between the two boys, and couldn't ignore the look of fear and panic.

Trixie took a deep breath and steeled her nerves before forcing a small smile and interrupting one of the boys mid sentence, "Hey there."

Stepping between the girl and the other two, Trixie continued, "We saved a bunk for you just like I promised. Wanna' get settled in now?"

Thankfully, the girl caught on to what Trixie was trying to do and nodded eagerly, deciding to remain silent as Trixie led her away back in the direction of where Tonya stood.

Trixie could feel the two males staring at the back of her head with what could only be described as annoyance at being interrupted but she did her best to ignore the way her skinned crawled at the thought of them getting back at her later.

When the pair reached where Trixie had left Tonya, the small female spoke up, "Thank you for that. They were trying to bunk near me and well…I'm not exactly comfortable with the idea."

The girl, who introduced herself as Nala, was a transfer from Amity and also the same girl who had tripped going onto the stage during the Choosing Ceremony. She was indeed extremely short, barely reaching Trixie's shoulder in height but had more curves. Her hair was pixie cut short and a vibrant ginger shade while her eyes were hazel. She seemed to favor being shy rather than open and outgoing but Trixie thought that was a likeable trait in a person.

"Here," Trixie patted the bunk beneath Tonya's and told Nala, "You can take this one." Leaving no room for argument, Trixie moved and sat on the bottom bunk that was next to theirs, and bounced on the mattress once or twice to test it's comfort. Nala glanced at Tonya, clearly not wanting to intrude or be rude, but the taller girl jerked her head towards the bottom bunk as a gesture to welcome her as a bunkmate. She only hesitated a moment longer before gulping and sitting on the bottom bunk, facing Trixie who sat across from her, and Tonya swung herself up onto the top bunk above Nala as they all got comfortable to wait for permission to leave the bunker.

The three conversed, not taking long to become familiar with one another, and swapped parts of their history before Tonya decided to fill them in on differences being made this year for initiation. Dauntless born would be learning separately from the transfers like they always did but this year the initiates were all allowed to train together once lessons and exercises were finished for the day. Apparently the Dauntless faction hoped to increase the amount of incoming members this year seeing how they didn't get too many members that past few years.

When Nala observed that there were no curtains in the showers, the trio immediately devised a plan to help each other by taking turns in shower; one would shower and the other two would hold up a sheet or spare blanket to help offer privacy. At this plan, Tonya snatched a sheet from a nearby bunk not being used and stashed it under her mattress for future use.

Trixie learned that Nala had two older siblings, a sister and a brother, and that the both of them were Factionless. She hoped with this transfer that she would be able to go out and see them if she was sent out on patrols or something of the like.

Tonya had no family except a dear friend who went by the name Ryu and they had known each other since they were both small. He was combat instructor for Dauntless members and actually worked with Trixie's uncle Johnathan most of the time but if he wasn't doing that then he worked in the tattoo parlor. It was because of this that Tonya had gotten two tattoos already; a black wolf's head on her left hip and the other was a black snake wrapping around her right wrist. She promised to introduce the man to them should they desire to get a tattoo of their own.

"You know, you should probably get dressed." Tonya suddenly suggested, eyeing Nala's clothing from Amity and Trixie's dress from Abnegation.

While Nala looked as if she detested the idea of losing the only thing she had from her home faction, Trixie nodded in agreement before rising from her bed and looked through the piles of clothing on the shelves of the nearby beds for Dauntless clothing small enough to fit her. After a minute with no success, Trixie was starting to doubt they had anything that would fit comfortably, but turned back towards her bed and saw Tonya standing next to her bunk with a small bundle of black clothing. Curious, Trixie thanked her before holding up the three-piece ensemble that consisted of high-waist pants, a plain black tank top, and a high-collar leather jacket. "The boots are under the bed." Tonya informed her.

While Tonya focused on helping Nala find something in the right size, Trixie took the opportunity to change her clothes. Setting the tank top and the pants on the bed, she pulled the pants on under the dress without trouble, and made sure she was wearing them properly before turning her back to the other initiates and pulling her dress up over her head. She grabbed the tank and quickly pulled it on before the boys watching could get a good look at her upper body.

The new living situation would be a bit of a problem. As it turned out, Nala and Trixie were the only female transfers into Dauntless. The Dauntless born initiates were in a separate bunker and with them were the other females; the only reason Tonya was in the bunker with the transfers was because she volunteered to stay there during the initiation process.

Three females and ten males.

That alone spelled trouble with a capital T.

…

Throwing her grey dress into the fire was easier than she thought it would be. Trixie figured she would hesitate like Nala did since they were technically leaving their old faction behind for good by doing this but she simply dumped her dress inside when it was her turn before walking away and following Tonya.

The brunette was nice enough to wait for them so they could all walk to the Dining Hall together and told them that she planned to introduce them to her friend Ryu after they got their food. Though she spoke with a casual tone, Trixie could tell from the excited look in her eyes that this Ryu was probably more than just a friend to her, but until she met him for herself she was keeping that thought to herself.

They followed the flow of people heading into the Dining Hall, getting in line to wait their turn to receive a tray for their food. To Trixie's surprise, there were more choices than she had imagined, and almost couldn't decide for herself what she wanted. Tonya, amused by the whole ordeal, grabbed a few random items and put them on Trixie's tray for her; Nala wasn't the same way and she chose her own foods before following after Tonya who had to pull Trixie away from the wide selection of foods.

Tonya spotted Ryu a few tables away and Trixie followed her finger to see that the young man she was pointing her finger at happened to be the same one from the rooftop when Tobias had chosen Dauntless. He had certainly matured in his time as a full time Dauntless and his golden eyes seemed brighter as he looked in their direction. He called out to Tonya, waving them over to his table, and the brunette eagerly began leading them in the direction of where he sat alone but was stopped midway by a larger frame that completely blocked Ryu from their sight.

Trixie froze and stared at her uncle who stood not three feet from Tonya who was at the head of their group, the two of them sharing a stare contest before he moved his gaze onto Trixie, and she couldn't help but flinch at the whirl of emotions she could read in his eyes. None of them were exactly pleasant.

"Trixie," He addressed her, his voice deep and a little scratchy from his older age, "I would like it if you ate with me so we could…talk."

Trixie gulped and nodded, her fear easily seen in her eyes by Tonya, but she ignored it and followed the hulking figure of her uncle through the throng of people who were al scurrying to get out of the way or trying to get to a table. A few eyes followed her as she walked by but most of them were Dauntless members who recognized her and knew who she was; they were just surprised to see that the Abnegation orphan had decided to stay in the Dauntless faction with her given background.

They stopped at a table with a lone tray sitting at its end; the opposite end of the table was packed with a few of the higher ranked members of Dauntless Trixie seen every now and then when she wandered the tunnels. Her uncle took the seat with the tray and immediately dug into his food, not even bothering to wait for Trixie to be seated herself, but Trixie didn't mind. He had always been like this. She set her tray down and took the seat across from him, taking a few bites of her own food, and relishing in the abundance of flavors invading her senses. While she had eaten food from Dauntless growing up, she never got the choice to choose what she wanted for herself since her uncle always chose for her after the food fight she had caused when she was smaller.

They were both silent as they ate, Trixie glancing at her uncle nervously every other minute, but he continued to act as if she wasn't there and kept his gaze on his tray. He'd said he wanted to talk to her so why wasn't he saying anything? Had he been lying so he could get her away from Tonya and Nala? She couldn't think of a reasonable explanation for that so she quickly ruled that out.

 _Maybe he's waiting for me to start the conversation…_

Trixie slowly chewed as she stared at her uncle, setting her fork next to her tray before swallowing the pasta she was eating, and cleared her throat. The sound caught her uncle's attention and he finally made eye contact with her as he continued eating.

Trixie rested her hands in her lap to hide the nervous twiddling of her thumbs before starting, "Look, Uncle Johnathan, I know you aren't happy with this but its-"

She was interrupted by a tray slamming down next to her uncle's and a person taking the empty space next to him. Trixie froze when she met the intense gaze of Eric's blue eyes staring into her own, his expression smug at catching her off guard. "Am I interrupting?" He asked casually.

 _So much for that talk…_

Trixie's cheeks flushed a bit and she stared down at her tray to avoid his gaze. Her uncle Johnathan spared her a glance before giving his attention to Eric and replying, "Not at all."

"Good because I need to speak with you." Max suddenly told him, appearing on Trixie's left across from Johnathan and Eric, his hands clasped behind his back, and his expression telling everyone that refusal was not an option.

Her uncle put his silverware down and leaned back in his seat at he chewed, his eyes narrowing a bit as he stared back at the man. After two seconds, he nodded and picked up his tray, sliding it down the table a ways away from Eric and Trixie, and Max wordlessly followed in suit before taking a seat across from him.

Now Trixie was sitting alone with Eric.

Who was now staring at her intently with his signature smirk he always wore.

In an attempt to ignore him and the shivers she was getting from the nervous feeling building up in the pit of her stomach, Trixie glanced around the room aimlessly as she took another bite of her pasta, and stopped when she spotted Tonya sitting with Nala and her raven haired friend Ryu not four tables down from hers behind Eric, the brunette staring at her with a somewhat bewildered expression at seeing Eric there with her.

Trixie snapped her gaze back to Eric when he moved to the seat at end of the table, the same seat her uncle had just been in moments ago, and was now sitting across from her.

They stared at each other for only a moment longer before Trixie lost her nerve and looked down, trying to distract herself by taking a bite of her food, and proceeded to ignore him.

Eric was completely unfazed by this and finally broke his stare from her to focus on his own meal. The two ate in silence for about a minute, Eric glancing at her every few seconds, but it didn't last when he finally asked, "So the trickster chose Dauntless?"

His tone was slightly sarcastic, giving Trixie the impression that he was mocking her, but she took no offense and continued to eat her food-which was nearly gone. She would have to find another way to distract herself soon.

"Tell me," He asked her as he set his silverware down and pushed his tray forward so he could cross his arms on the table, "You think you have what it takes?"

"I guess you'll have to wait and see huh?" Trixie responded without thinking, pausing mid-bite, and glanced up to see what he would say.

He remained silent, however he raised his head and looked down at her, making her feel smaller than she was, and she couldn't help but look down in embarrassment. It just wasn't fair. His confidence was overwhelming and she knew he was amused but at the same time not so impressed at being talked back to. He liked having the last word.

"I guess so." He simply said before someone called his name and he looked away. Max was calling him down the table and he glanced at Trixie one more time before standing from his seat and moving down to stand next to Max and join in the conversation.

Releasing a breath, Trixie slumped in her seat with relief at no longer being the center of his attention, and picked up her cup of water while glancing in the direction of where Tonya sat. The brunette was making faces at the back of Eric's head, making Nala and Ryu try to contain their laughter, but Trixie just smiled. She couldn't exactly laugh with the man standing a few feet away and expect him not to notice. The last thing she wanted was to explain the reason for her laughter.

When Tonya began pretending to strangle Ryu next to her, hands at his neck and shaking him back and forth while staring pointedly at Eric, Trixie couldn't stop herself from releasing a small laugh while taking a drink of her water, and nearly choked on it.

Eric turned his head from what Max was saying and looked at Trixie while she pounded on her chest a couple times, coughing to try clear her airway, and noticed that her cheeks were red. Was she laughing? What about?

After a few seconds of clearing her throat, Trixie tried to think of what to say should Eric ask when she made the mistake of glancing at Tonya who was now mouthing ' _I am going to kill him'_ to Trixie.

She didn't know where this was coming from but Trixie pressed her lips closed and made a small noise that sounded like a snort to keep from laughing out loud even more.

Eric raised a brow questioningly.

The opportunity to explain was suddenly ripped from her however when a rush of ice made her gasp, her upper body and the tops of her thighs now completely soaked through.

She had let her guard down and was paying the price for it.

She didn't have to look up to be able to tell the person standing next to her was holding an empty pitcher above her head.

"Welcome to Dauntless, orphan."

…

 **Eric**

If looks could kill, Eric was positive the look he was giving the young man right now would make him collapse into a twitching heap on the floor, and would be pissing his pants.

It only took him a moment to recognize the male since it was the same one from years ago during his initiation. A transfer from Candor and also the same one who had dumped a pitcher of water on Trixie when she was twelve and also the same one she had humiliated by dumping his dinner into his lap not long after.

This guy never forgot the incident apparently.

Smirking like he was proud of what he had done, the young man set the pitcher on the table right in front of Trixie's tray, taking a step back and resting his hands on his hips as he examined his work, and laughed to himself.

"You made the wrong choice coming to Dauntless," The man taunted as he pushed Trixie, nearly making her fall out of her seat, "You're in my world now stiff."

It was at this comment that Eric moved from where he stood next to Max. His steps were loud and echoed across the entire hall from how quiet it was.

"Is it now?"

He took pleasure in watching the guy look up and go pale with fear.

With his hands clasped leisurely behind his back, Eric strolled over to the man and stopped less than three feet away from him, showing off how much height difference there was between the two men.

"I'm afraid you're wrong about that," Eric told the young man as he took a step forward in an intimidating manner, making the other take a shaky step back, and continued, "This isn't your world."

The man tripped taking another step back and fell into an empty seat, people nearby moving away as Eric closed in on him, and was now towering over the young man. He wasn't just intimidated by Eric; he was full on _terrified_ of him.

To Eric, there was a difference between intimidation and fear, and he always strived to put fear into certain people when the situation called for it. To him, it was a way to show just how strong and powerful he was in the faction he was helping to lead, and it helped him tell the difference between who truly was Dauntless and who was there just because their test told them they belonged.

This man was most likely the latter.

There were a few choice words he wanted to have with the young man who clearly had not matured or grown since his time in initiation but at the same time Eric didn't think it was worth the trouble giving words to Dauntless trash. Not to mention Max was nearby so it wouldn't look good on his part to be unnecessarily cruel to a fellow member; he also didn't want to have to deal with the argument that was ensured to follow. So he would have to settle for something a little more… _subtle._

Leaning forward to be more at eye level with him, Eric whispered threateningly, "Get out before I show you what _my_ world looks like."

The guy was there one second and gone the next, pushing people out of is way as he ran to the exit, and didn't look back.

…

While she knew Eric wouldn't stand by, Trixie was not expecting _that_.

When the guy had first dumped water on her, Trixie saw Tonya immediately get up from her seat only to be pulled back by the man sitting next to her, and that's when Eric moved.

His words weren't directed at her but they filled her with fear all the same; however she figured the fear she was feeling was only a fraction of what the other guy was feeling.

He didn't look at her once since he was focused on her offender so she was the chance to stare at him for longer than five seconds and not turn into a blushing mess. However the look on his face took her by surprise. She had never _ever_ seen the look he was giving the man behind her. His face was relax and gave the impression that he was somewhat bored with the whole situation but his eyes were hard and intense like he wanted to stab knives into the other man's eye socket.

Eric only said a handful of words but they had the desired effect and sent the man running with his tail between his legs.

The second he was gone from sight, Tonya rose from her seat without being stopped this time and rushed to where Trixie sat, pulling her to a stand to assess the watery damage.

"Jesus you think he could have gotten the water any colder?" She growled quietly so only Trixie could hear which made her smile.

"At least there wasn't anything in the water." Trixie supplied in attempt to be positive.

Grabbing the napkin on Trixie's tray, Tonya did her best to help wipe off the excess water that hadn't soaked into the girl's clothes. Nala joined her a second later, pushing backing the wet hair that was plastered to Trixie's face behind her ear so it wasn't in the way, and suggested, "You should go shower before everyone comes back; that way you have some privacy and you can get warmed up."

Trixie liked the idea and nodded in agreement, grabbing the girl's hands and giving an appreciative squeeze before turning and walking towards the exit, but glanced over her shoulder at Eric who was staring back at her with a blank expression.

She was going to thank him later, whether he cared or not, but for now she was cold and wanted to be warm.

…

Like Nala had said, the bunker was empty, giving Trixie the privacy she desired despite the room being so open for others who were looking for a show. And if someone walked in right now that's what they would get.

That's why she was trying to finish as fast as possible.

The shower had hot water thankfully and it felt amazing against her tired muscles. While she had certainly had worse days, today was tiring and all she wanted to do was go to bed and sleep the night away. The next day would having training she was _not_ going to enjoy and she knew it.

With eyes closed, Trixie lowered her head and let the spray of hot water fall over her from head to toe, and she focused on the feeling as it soothed her body. From this moment on, times like this would be few and far between until initiation was over, and Trixie was determined to become a full member of Dauntless. She wasn't doing this for anyone but herself; she was doing it to prove she was strong and could take care of herself. Everyone thought she was the weak orphan from Abnegation but this would show people how wrong they were.

Feeling warm and relaxed, Trixie twisted the shower knob to the right and turned off the hot water, a small cloud of steam billowing around her naked body, and she shivered against the cold air of the bunker. With her arms crossed at her chest, she looked around the shower room looking for her towel and realized that she must have left it on her bunk bed with her dry clothes. Breathing out through her nose, Trixie padded over to her bunk bed and reached for the towel when she froze.

Were those voices?

Yes, she could definitely hear voices. And they were getting closer.

Panicked, Trixie grabbed the towel and wrapped it around her body, moving to the opposite side of her bunk that was furthest from the bunker door, crouching down in hopes of not being seen in her current undressed state.

What could she do? There was no time to throw on any of the dry clothes she had found and even if she tried, all she would be able to put on were her underwear and the sports bra.

The voices, young men from what she could hear, were about twenty feet away from the entrance of the bunker when a voice thundered down the hall, and suddenly everything was silent.

Trixie strained to listen and she heard another pair of steps echoing down the hall as they moved with haste to catch up with the others. The steps stopped, leaving everything quiet, and then the same person who had yelled at them was speaking in hushed tones that made it difficult to hear what was being said.

But that voice…she knew that voice.

Who was it? They were being too quiet for her to hear so she couldn't quite pin the voice to a face.

The question was quickly lost in her mind and she suddenly realized this was her chance.

Coming to a stand, she grabbed her underwear and sports bra before drying herself at a fast pace, and scrambled to put them on.

She froze when she heard footsteps retreating back down the hall away from the bunker but a single set of footsteps came closer. Someone was coming into the bunker. She pulled the tank top over her head and went to pull on the pants but tripped and fell on the floor with a thud, a curse escaping her as the steps entered the room.

Panicking even more now, Trixie remained on the floor as she shimmied the pants on, making sure they were completely on before going still, listening for the footsteps which seemed to have stopped right in the doorway of the bunker.

Who was there?

Taking a deep breath, Trixie turned her head to look under the bunk at a large set of feet belonging to a male who stood motionless in the aisle between the two long rows of bunk beds.

Who was it?

Whoever it was only remained for a moment longer, not finding whatever they were searching for, and turned away. Leaving the bunker, the person paused at the door before disappearing completely from her view, and moved further from the bunker until Trixie could no longer hear their footsteps.

...

 **Can ya'll guess who was in the bunker? First person to guess it right gets a hint as to what will happen in the next chapter!**

 **And yes I'm doing this as an attempt to make you guys review LOL The more reviews and follows I get, the faster the next chapter gets completed and posted! SO FOLLOW AND REVIEW PEOPLE! LOL**

 **Thank you to those who have followed, favorite, and reviewed so far! You guys have no idea how much motivation it gives me to see how interested you guys are in my story!**

 **Have a great 2016!**

 **~CoolCat0720~**

 **(P.S. To my friend who let me borrow your amazing OCs for this story, I hope I'm portraying well enough for your satisfaction :D)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! Thanks for being so patient! I have had a busy past couple of weeks. I have been working with the wonderful TayMor on some amazing projects so it has been keeping me quite occupied. And recently, I have a friend who is staying with me so I can take care of her because she just got out of he hospital and is in recovery, and can't do much on her own. So I am helping her out until she can get back on her feet! I will still be working on this story, in fact I'm working on the next chapter now, but it will be going a little slower since I have a life I am trying to manage AND I have other stories I am trying to update.**

 **Anyways, here is the next chapter! Not much Eric interaction but that will come in the next chapter! Sorry this chapter isn't that long but I PROMISE THE NEXT ONE WILL BE MUCH LONGER!**

 **ENJOY!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Divergent series or any of it's characters. Ryu and Tonya belong to ChaosChick21 (I really hope I spelled that right LOL). I only own my OCs.**

 **Chapter 4) A Greenhorn's Challenge**

"It's not fair! How come you're so good at this?"

Tonya snickered before answering, "She probably has experience in this department already. Don't you Trixie?"

With her hair tie between her lips, she was unable to answer vocally and simply nodded as she did her best to twist her hair into a low bun on the back of her head. There were no regulations that Trixie knew of requiring her hair to be a certain length like in Abnegation so she had been growing her hair out for some time now; however the only drawback was that it was hard to manage at times.

It didn't take long for her to get it tight enough so it wouldn't fall out anytime soon and she wrapped the hair tie around it before reaching for her gun on the metal table in front of her, checking the clip before speaking. "I've worked with weapons before, yes. Personally, I like the bigger ones."

"That's what she said." Tonya whispered to Nala, drawing a giggle from the shorter female.

Trixie rolled her eyes at the comment before lifting the gun in her arms and closing one eye, looking down the barrel at the target some meters away, and fired in five small bursts. The amount of kick was expected with the size of the gun but she held firm and was able to fire it without losing control of her aim and avoided hurting her shoulder like the first time her uncle had taught her.

When she had first been learning how to use a larger gun like the one she held now, the kick had caught her off guard and hurt her shoulder as if someone had been constantly hitting it for long periods of time, and since she had been so small at the time it hurt more then than it did now.

She pulled the trigger again but it clicked and she realized that it was empty. Setting the gun down, she got to work on changing the empty clip for a full one and did a quick scan to make sure nothing else was wrong before using it again. As she worked, Tonya moved to stand right next to her and gave a low whistle. "I think you missed the left eye." She told Trixie as she looked at the head of the target which was riddled with bullet holes.

Leaving the larger gun on the table, Trixie picked up a smaller handgun and aimed at the target before firing three rounds at the area Tonya was referring to, swiftly taking out the left eye.

"Better?" She asked as she removed the clip from the small gun and replaced the three bullets with the extra left in a small box on the table before putting the clip back in.

Tonya nodded her head as she stared at the missing left eye of the target, impressed with her friend's quick accuracy, and stepped back in front of her own target. She fired rounds into the target and quickly emptied the clip, removing it to replace it with another one, and repeated the action while adjusting her aim for better results.

Over the past couple of days, Tonya learned much about her two new friends. Nala was naturally athletic, giving her an advantage when they first did a physical test to see where everyone's level was. She was comfortable with running, swimming, or anything that involved long periods of endurance. Tonya herself was more fitted for push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and the like. Trixie, on the other hand, was rather peculiar when it came to physical exercise; she tended to lean towards the exercise's that weren't done by many others; like gymnastics and climbing. While it didn't look that hard, Tonya had found out the hard way just how many muscles she was using when she did either one of those. One day she had tried rock climbing with Trixie and found that the girl was insanely fast and quick minded when it came to climbing insane heights. The next day, Tonya had been sore in places she didn't realize could be sore, and vowed that next time she would go at her own pace. Trixie wasn't like that. If she enjoyed something, she would push herself past her limits, and could do so for insane periods of time.

It was funny for Tonya to think that, after watching Trixie nearly collapse the first day they ran a mile, she excelled in other forms of exercise that not many people even tried.

Nala, on Tonya's right, was having a much harder time getting the same results they were. Her posture was stiff and awkward as she held the small handgun, her aim shifting every time she pulled the trigger, and she whined when she stared at her target. She couldn't seem to hit anything vital and the middle seemed like an impossible target no matter how many times she adjusted.

"You're not holding it correctly." Lauren, their instructor for the day, came to stand right behind Nala's shoulder as she helped adjust the younger girl's grip and corrected her stance. "Relax sweetie, it's not gonna' jump out of your hands if you loosen up. Bend your elbows-that's it-and just breathe. Focus on where you want the bullet to hit."

Nala listened intently to everything Lauren was saying, following her direction to the letter as she adjusted herself to fit what her teacher was describing.

Tonya only watched for a moment longer before focusing on her own target, staring at the cardboard cut-out littered with holes more around the chest area than any other part. She was satisfied with her results but when she looked over at Trixie's target she almost couldn't stop herself from smirking when she saw that the head was nearly blown off from how many times she had shot it. "Not gonna' show the poor guy any mercy?"

Trixie smiled and shrugged, "I don't really think Bob can protest at this point."

Tonya gave her a look and asked, "Did you really name your cardboard boyfriend Bob?"

Grabbing the marker they had used to draw X's on different parts of the target, Trixie walked around the table towards her target and wrote 'BOB' across his chest where no bullet holes had struck, and turned to with a smile, "I did now."

Tonya laughed at Trixie and shook her head as she switched from the handgun to the larger gun Trixie had been using previously. She checked the clip as Trixie came back around the table to stand next to her.

Leaning a hip against the table, Trixie crossed her arms at her chest and watched contently as Tonya emptied clip after clip into her target, offering a piece of advice every now and then when Tonya couldn't hit her desired mark.

…

After about ten minutes, Lauren moved on from Nala and noticed Trixie's lack of activity, the black- haired female watching her brunette friend with a little amusement written in her features. The two were exchanging words while Tonya replaced the empty clip when Lauren approached them, clearing her throat to get their attention.

Trixie straightened her posture and dropped her arms to her sides, her eyes wide with surprise at Lauren's approach.

"Initiate," Lauren nodded her head towards the gun laying on the table next to them, "There a reason you're not participating?"

Before Trixie could even think of a response, Tonya leaned her head towards them and told Lauren, "I think Bob's had enough action for one day if you ask me."

Trixie blushed embarrassedly at Tonya's comment, her arms wrapping around herself as she looked away.

Puzzled, Lauren looked at Trixie's target and her brow rose at the sight of the cardboard head that was almost completely shot off and the name 'BOB' scrawled across the chest.

 _Interesting…_

Lauren looked at the blushing girl and her left brow rose expectantly as she waited for some sort of explanation.

Trixie scratched the back of her neck nervously before stuffing her hands in her back pockets, "Miss Lauren, I've completed the requirements for today's weapons exercise…Would it be at all possible if I could try something..different?"

Intrigued by the girl's request, Lauren shifted her weight to her left foot and crossed her arms before asking, "Define 'different' for me initiate."

Instead of answering, Trixie turned to stare at the wall not too far away from them where the weapons where mounted and stored. Her gaze was more focused on the portion of the wall that was currently locked and not open for practice. The long-ranged rifles and snipers.

"Are you serious?" Lauren asked her.

Trixie, now feeling that her request was way out of line, starting bumbling out words while trying to figure out how to apologize. "I'm sorry ma'am. I didn't think that…I shouldn't have-"

"Let her use one."

Lauren looked to her left to see Four walking towards them, his face neutral as he came to a stop a foot or two away from the pair.

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Lauren questioned him, watching his eyes flicker to Trixie for a moment before he nodded.

"I've seen her work with one before; she has proper experience."

And it was the truth. About two years back, Four had happened to pass by the weapons room when he saw Trixie with her uncle. He was instructing her on how to use the rifle in her hands and, curious, Four decided to stay behind and watch her practice. Surprisingly, she was a natural.

"What about the others?" Lauren gestured to the other initiates scattered around the room at different targets, each one going at their own pace until they felt comfortable enough with one gun before switching to another. "It might cause problems that an initiate is working with a higher-grade weapon, especially since she's not even a Dauntless-born."

The two Dauntless members both saw Trixie fidget at that last comment but Lauren wouldn't take back her words. She didn't mean to hurt Trixie's feelings but if she were allowed to try a weapon above initiate standards then it might look bad on not only Trixie but Lauren herself. There could be complaints or even arguments about letting an initiate use something and others couldn't; the pressure would be even worse from her superiors if they thought she was playing favorites. She couldn't allow that.

"I'll take responsibility." Four informed her, surprising both females.

"Really now?" Lauren asked, sounding a bit doubtful.

"I've seen her use one so I trust her."

Lauren shook her head, "That's not the problem. What would the initiates think if they thought we were playing favorites-"

Four held up a finger to stop her. "First off, you're not playing favorites. I am. Second, how can we call ourselves instructors if we aren't willing to see what the initiates are really capable of?"

Lauren sighed in defeat and bowed her head to pinch the bridge of her nose, thinking over Four's words in her head.

Tribe stood patiently waiting for Lauren to speak, biting her bottom lip nervously, and glanced at Four who gave her a confident wink in return.

"Alright," Lauren rested her hands on her hips, "It's your ass though Four."

He gave her a nod before turning to Trixie and gesturing for her to follow. The pair walked away and suddenly Lauren felt a small wave of anxiety appear in the pit of her stomach, making her feel as if she was going to regret her decision.

She turned around to find Tonya and Nala both staring at her, the first with a small smirk on her face.

Lauren narrowed her eyes and ordered, "Get back to work."

Nala jumped at how strict the older woman sounded and immediately turned back to her target. Tonya on the other hand stared for a moment longer before leisurely checking the clip already in her gun, making sure it was full before firing off rounds.

Lauren walked away from the two female initiates to go check on other that were across the room, fighting the urge to look back at Four and Trixie.

…

"Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"If you ask me that question one more time, I'll make you run a mile."

Trixie flinched at the idea and immediately adjusted herself so she was laying comfortably on the mat, the sniper rifle resting on a mini tripod so it was stable. She had figured Four would give her one of the smaller ones that she could hold while standing up, so she was shocked when he came from the weapons wall carrying the sniper in one arm and the tripod in the other.

Oh yeah, the sniper rifle's name was 'LUCY'.

 _"You name your weapons?"_

 _"It's easy to tell the difference between them sometimes."_

While his explanation was questionable at first, Trixie thought it made sense to have a distinction between weapons to help tell them apart; when her uncle had first shown her the different types, it was hard to tell them apart sometimes, but the names helped.

On the other side of the room across from them, a target that was smaller than average hung from the wall about six feet from ground level. Trixie leaned in to look through the scope, the butt of the gun resting comfortably against her shoulder, and took a deep breath before pulling the trigger.

She forced herself not to flinch at the sound of the gunshot, but it was louder without the headphones she was used to using when her uncle had her handling a sniper rifle of any caliber. The bullet struck right outside the bullseye circle in the upper left corner; not exactly in the middle of the target like she had hoped but more around the middle. Quickly adjusting her aim, Trixie looked into the scope once more and this time fired three shots.

Her shots landed in the center leaving a hole in the shape of a three-leaf clover. Four whistled as she moved to sit back on heels and rested her hands on her knees. She had improved greatly since he had last seen her use a long-ranged weapon and she was still one of the best in his books. He glanced at her and saw her focused on the target as he tried to find the small girl from his childhood in the young woman sitting on the ground slightly in front of him. She was there still but she was slowly disappearing.

Suddenly Trixie's ears had turned pink, indicating that she was blushing, and when Four looked to the side he could tell the small group that had gathered nearby on the other side of the safety glass watching were the reason why. Their gazes went back and forth between Trixie and her target, surprise written on most faces at her skill which a weapon that advanced but they quickly dispersed when Four moved and stood to face the group while blocking Trixie from view, giving them a harsh glare that was clearly telling them to get lost. The only ones who lingered were Tonya, Nala, and Lauren. Tonya didn't looked all that surprised at her friend's skill, Nala was in awe, but Lauren's pale expression made Four's stomach drop. She looked…worried? Afraid? What was it?

Trixie cleared her throat and picked up LUCY up off the tripod, taking the rifle to one of the nearby tables to begin disassembling the weapon. Four stared at the trio for a moment longer before turning away and going to help Trixie, swiping the tripod off the ground on his way. He stood next to her in comfortable silence as he watched her clean parts of the rifle with a wire scrub. It take long for Four to begin asking her random questions to try and relax her, wondering how she had been doing and if she was fitting in okay. However she didn't get a chance to answer when the safety glass door slammed inward and made both of them jump.

Four pushed off the table he was leaning against to stand erect and Trixie noticed his jaw clench. Turning around to follow his gaze, she froze stiff at seeing Eric standing there, and flinched when he slammed the door shut behind him.

"Well well, what do we have here?"

...

Nala's jaw dropped and she nearly spilled her drink down her shirt. Tonya's own brow was raised in surprise at what Trixie was telling them and she suddenly felt sorry for her friend.

Ryu, who was sitting across from the two next to Trixie, didn't feel the same way as they did; in fact he couldn't help but laugh so hard his face was red.

Trixie's face was hidden behind her hands as she forced herself not to blush from the embarrassment of retelling the events of what had transpired early that day.

The group was quiet as they waited for Ryu to catch his breath before urging her to continue. "What happened next?" Nala asked her.

Trixie crossed her arms and rested them on the table, pushing her dining tray forward to make room, "Well, as you can imagine, he wasn't happy with Four letting an initiate use a high powered weapon like that. He went on and on about how he was weak against a young girl's charm and it was no wonder he wasn't a leader."

"Ouch," Nala mumbled as she took a bite of her food.

"What did he say about you?" Tonya inquired, her meal completely forgotten at this point. From what Trixie had gathered over the past couple of days, Tonya wasn't exactly fond of Eric much like everyone, but her dislike seemed to stem from something personal. However, Trixie knew Tonya didn't like talking about her past and she had no problem respecting that privacy; she was the same way after all.

Trixie grabbed her cup and looked at the contents inside, swirling the liquid around as she shrugged her shoulders, "He didn't...well he didn't exactly get mad with me. He actually seemed a little impressed that I was handling the weapon really well. Said I had potential and everything...but I have to earn the right to do stuff like that. It wouldn't be fair to the other initiates and cause lots of problems."

Trixie stopped to take a drink of her water but when she didn't say anything for a few seconds afterwards, Nala pushed for more. "So?"

"So what?"

Tonya sighed in annoyance, "Well he wants to prove that you can handle stuff like that, so what does he want you to do?"

Trixie tensed for a moment before setting her cup down on the table and resting her hands in her lap. She fiddled with her fingers, not wanting to answer her friend's question, but knew they would keep asking until she gave in and told them.

"He...wants me to fight in a match...against a full-fledge Dauntless member."

Ryu spit out his drink, drawing a few eyes over to their table, but he paid them no mind as he wiped his mouth with the back of his leather jacket sleeve and asked, "He wants you to do _what?_ "

Trixie didn't respond, looking at her food with a sudden lack of appetite, and heard Ryu curse under his breath.

"Can he do that?" Nala asked Ryu, who was shaking his head in disbelief.

"Technically, he can do anything he wants as long as it is in the bounds of a leader." he informed them as he rubbed his forehead. This was absolutely nuts and completely uncalled for through Ryu's perspective but then again this sounded like something Eric would do. He just hoped for Trixie's sake that he wouldn't choose someone extremely skilled like Diaz or Trixie's own uncle Johnathan. Now _that_ would be cruel.

"So if you win, you get to advance in weapon's training?" Nala questioned her friend, who nodded eagerly in response.

"As long as I have a supervisor with me the entire time, which will most likely be Four since Eric stated the supervisor would have to watch me voluntarily."

"What happens if you lose the match?" Tonya asked with narrowed eyes, suspicious that the deal sounded too good to be true.

Trixie paled a little and looked down at her lap, a habit Tonya noticed her friend did whenever she wasn't comfortable. That was never a good sign.

"If I lose, I have to endure a training session with him until he says stop, and if I can't make it through that...then I'm cut. I become Factionless."

If Ryu thought he felt sorry for her before, he certainly felt sorry for her now. The last couple of people who trained with Eric never came out of it in one piece; one man had even lost an eye in a sparring session that involved knives. When Ryu told them this, Nala's eyes went wide with fear and Tonya lost control over her emotions. "What the _fuck_ is his deal?!"

Ryu shushed her for speaking too loud and said in a low voice, "Tonya calm down, Eric is still in the mess hall."

She narrowed her gaze onto her friend and growled out, "I don't give a fuck if he can hear me; in fact I hope he did hear me so he can come over here and I'll ask him again myself!"

"It's not our place to question his motives." He told her in a firm voice, leaving no room for argument as more eyes were staring at them now. Including Eric from the balcony overlooking the room. His eyes immediately found Trixie's and he gave a smirk that was filled with more trouble than she wanted to see. And she knew what it meant, what he was wordlessly telling her.

 _I hope you're ready for what's coming._

"Let's go."

Trixie blinked, watching Tonya pick up her tray with the half eaten meal still on it, and realized that she had missed the last part of their conversation.

"What?"

Tonya sighed and grabbed Trixie's tray as well before explaining, "You. Me. The training room. Now."

The look in her eyes had Trixie standing from her seat and following after her friend, realizing that she had no choice, and knew that if she didn't come then Tonya would have no problem dragging her out of the mess hall by force.

She dumped their trays in a nearby trashbin and walked towards the exit without looking behind her to see if Trixie was following. As they walked out, Trixie glanced up at the balcony to see Eric watching them leave, and she felt her determination swell a bit.

 _I'll be ready._

...

"Again." Tonya ordered as Trixie picked herself up off the mat.

Though it was after hours and most of the initiates were supposed to be in the bunker getting ready for bed, they were allowed to use the training room as long as another Dauntless member was there to watch, and that's why Ryu was straddling a chair with his arms crossed on the back rest near the edge of the ring. Every now and then he would give advice to improve Trixie's form or give hints for weak points to aim for on another person. Nala was sitting next to him cross-legged on the floor, watching with careful eyes, but keeping quiet to listen to what everyone else was saying.

They had been sparring for about two hours now and Trixie was nearly gasping for air. Combat was not one of her strong points and this proved it. Tonya was flushed and had a layer of sweat on her body but she was nowhere near as breathless as Trixie.

"Can I have a minute?" Trixie asked while she leaned forward with her hands resting on her knees. There was no way she would be able to keep going at this pace.

"You're going to be fighting off against a full-fledged member of Dauntless sweetheart. You won't even have a second to _breathe_ without the risk of being hit in the face."

Trixie groaned but moved back into position, standing a few feet away from Tonya and got into a defensive stance, waiting for Ryu to call it.

"Start!"

Tonya immediately stepped forward and them a punch, Trixie taking a step back and leaning her body out of the way for Tonya to miss, but barely missed the second punch that immediately followed. It continued like this for a while with Trixie constantly dodging anything Tonya threw at her and what she couldn't dodge then she blocked it to the best of her ability but Tonya noticed that Trixie rarely ever tried to go on the offensive. The closest she came to attacking Tonya was turning her hits against her.

"Alright are you going to throw a punch or not?" Tonya taunted when their fight came to a standstill. Her comment caused Trixie to hesitate, which she used to her advantage and swept Trixie's feet out from underneath her. She landed on her back with a soft thud and Nala winced at the look of pain Trixie had on her face.

"You can't be on the defensive the entire time Trixie. You have to fight back or you're not going to have a chance at winning this match." Tonya explained bluntly, pulling Trixie to her feet.

"I know I just...I'm really worried that I might hurt you."

Tonya blinked. "Come again?"

Shrugging, Trixie rubbed her arms and said, "It's not like I can't fight back...it's just the moves my uncle taught me are a bit-well, dangerous."

Tonya crossed her arms and leaned on her left, giving Trixie a pointed stare, "And you're not using these moves because you're afraid you're going to hurt me?"

Trixie bit her bottom lip and gave a small nod.

Pinching the bridge of her nose, Tonya let out a sigh in annoyance before telling her, "Trixie that's the whole point. If you have the moves, use them and defend yourself! You can't hold back in a fight; especially in this fight. If you don't use all of what you have then you _will_ lose."

Trixie understood what Tonya meant but she wasn't comfortable with fighting her friend; even if it was just a practice match.

Ryu could sense her unease and immediately spoke up, "Hey look Trixie, I know it might not be easy to fight Tonya because you don't actually see her as an opponent, but you can use this opportunity to _improve_ what you know. Not every opponent will react the same way when you fight them so it's best to fight Tonya because she is skilled at combat and you can help each other out."

"How am I helping her?" Trixie asked.

"Because you can dodge and I'm not used to my opponent being able to do that." Tonya explained, realizing where Ryu was coming from.

"You're not used to people dodging?" Nala asked.

Tonya gave a small shrug, "I usually land all of my hits."

Ryu laughed before adding, "Well if it wasn't for me, you wouldn't have gotten as far as you have."

Tonya shot her friend a look that clearly told him to be silent but he ignored her and looked down at Nala next to him, "Did you know that Tonya couldn't throw a proper punch until about a year ago?"

This piqued Trixie's interest. She glanced at Tonya with a raised brow and asked, "Really?"

Ryu gave her a cheeky grin, "It's true. You see, she always had this natural talent for fighting, but it was unrefined and a little sloppy; however she was undefeated so she didn't ever get proper training for it until... _it_ happened."

Tension was thick in the air and Trixie could _feel_ the anger rolling off Tonya in waves. She pointed a finger at Ryu, "Not. Another. Word."

"What's _it_?" Nala asked innocently.

Trixie, being able to sense that Tonya was about to snap, came to a quick decision and said, "I want to try again."

Three pairs of eyes were now on her and, even though she considered them her friends, she was still getting used to people giving her their full attention after always being taught _not_ to draw attention. Turning to Tonya, she cleared her throat and repeated, "I want to try again...the spar."

The two stared at each other, a look of understanding passing over Tonya's face, and she suddenly had a new amount of appreciation for the blue eyes standing a few feet away on the mat. She could see what Trixie was trying to do and she was grateful; which was an emotion she didn't feel towards many people, but maybe that would change with initiation.

"Alright. Get into position."

 **...**

 **How did you guys like this chapter? Was it to your satisfaction? Does it make you want more?! I HOPE IT DOES OTHERWISE I WON'T BE ABLE TO KEEP WRITING LOL**

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 **~CoolCat0720~**


	5. Chapter 5

**SUP GUYS! FAST UPDATE AM I RIGHT?!**

 **...Well I guess it wasn't that fast but for me it was LOL**

 **Anyways, this chapter kind of write itself out, and I hope you like it! There is some Eric in this and I hope I portray his POV correctly and in character. Also, I'm not very good at fight scenes so I hope I did okay on that too!**

 **ENJOY!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Divergent series or any of it's characters. Ryu and Tonya belong to ChaosChick21 (I really hope I spelled that right LOL). I only own my OCs.**

 **Chapter 5) Past Predator**

The nights training with Tonya are more fruitful than Trixie thought they'd be. From that first night of training, Ryu and Tonya both came to the conclusion that her speed and agility would be more than enough for her to hold her own in the match to come; while her blows weren't very powerful, striking a person in the right place would bring anyone to their knees after a few hits. So for the rest of the nights that passed, they drilled the different areas to strike into Trixie's mind until she memorized them by heart, and Ryu was more than happy to help demonstrate these moves much to Tonya's annoyance since she was the test dummy.

However, Trixie made the grave mistake of asking to fight Ryu to test her skill, and was sorely beaten to the point of purple bruises all over her body. Most had healed but she still had a lingering bruise here or there as a reminder that she really needed to practice more with different opponents.

She had no idea that the opportunity would come sooner than she predicted.

Eric was true to his word.

...

"Enjoying your breakfast, initiate?"

Trixie froze mid bite into her plate of eggs, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise with the feeling of a familiar presence. Across from her, Tonya had gone rigid in her seat, and was shooting a glare as sharp as throwing knife at the man standing behind the raven haired female. Setting her fork down on her plate, Trixie half turned in her seat to look up at Eric, his eyes cold as he met her gaze.

"Yes," she replied. "I am."

He gave a small nod. "Glad to hear it; however I wouldn't eat anymore if I were you."

Her brow furrowed in confusion but before she could ask why, Eric had turned his attention to Tonya who hadn't eased up on her glare one bit, and he smirked.

"Well if it isn't Miss Chaos herself," Eric taunted as he moved around Trixie to stand at the head of their table, crossing his arms and leaned closer to Tonya before adding, "Tell me, are you still hurting from our last match?"

Tonya growled and smacked her hands down on the table, making the trays and plates shake from the force, and pushed herself to a stand. There were inches between the two of them, Tonya's rage filled eyes clashing with Eric's arrogant ones, but the contact only last for a moment when Ryu stood from his seat next to Tonya's and grabbed her wrist, urging her to move away and take a seat. Their interaction was drawing unwanted attention and it would only get worse for her if she tried to make a move.

Eric chuckled, giving a smile wide enough to flash his teeth, and he simply shook his head. He met Ryu's eyes over Tonya's shoulder and said, "You should keep a tighter leash on her Ryu. We wouldn't want her to hurt herself now would we?"

"Did you need something?" Ryu asked, pulling Tonya behind him despite her resistance.

This time, Eric looked at Trixie, who remained in her seat, and told her, "Your match. It's today."

Trixie stared at him with a dumbfound expression.

Today? So soon?

He crossed his arms and let them lower to his sides, jerking his head in the direction of the hall exit, and said in a commanding tone, "Let's go."

Trixie stood from her seat and he gave her a smirk at the hesitance.

"Time to see what you're made of Trickster."

...

After stepping out of the locker room, changed into a pair of black pants and a tight fitting black tank top, Trixie had a growing suspicion that Eric timed her match during Dauntless training hours on purpose. The training room was occupied by other Dauntless who had come earlier in the morning to get a workout before beginning their duties and Trixie immediately became nervous at the thought that the people in this room would be watching her fight someone else and she wasn't even a member yet.

Some paused in what they were doing to watch her as she walked to the center of room where the sparring ring was. Eric was waiting for her there, standing straight with his hands clasped behind his back like always, but his eyes locked onto her as she came closer.

His expression was unreadable as he took a deep breath through his nose before he asked, "Are you ready?"

She gave a small nod.

He held an arm out towards the sparring ring, gesturing for her to move forward and take her place there, and she did. The mat was firm and felt smooth beneath her feet, the white powdered foot prints telling her that someone else had used the area before she came. Her own hands and feet had a small layer of powder to help prevent slipping on the mat.

"Members of Dauntless," Eric yelled, making Trixie jump, "gather round!"

The ones closest came first before everyone followed, forming a huddle in front of their leader, and glanced between Eric and Trixie questioningly.

Eric began to slowly pace back and forth and spoke, "With me here is a young initiate who believes herself ready to take on more difficult tasks; to move up in our ranks and prove that she is one of us."

He stopped, facing forward as he looked them over, and studied their expressions. Most looked exactly like he predicted, annoyed and unamused at the thought of an initiate trying to get ahead of the game. Some looked curious, wondering if the young girl behind him really had what it takes, and wanting to see what she was made of.

"Today we shall test her skills and see if she really has what it takes to prove that she is or will most likely become one of us. That is where you come in."

He stepped off the mat and stood eye level with the rest of them and announced, "I need a volunteer to step up and fight her in a real match. Losing will not result in loss of rank or placement in the faction; this is just a test to see if she has what it takes."

Trixie felt like someone had taken a bucket of ice and poured it down the back of her shirt.

He wanted her to fight a _member_ of Dauntless?! Someone who was already fully trained?!

The rational side of her mind argued that it made sense for him to do this since it wouldn't be easy but the other part of her mind, the side she was agreeing with whole-heartedly at the moment, was screaming that he _must_ be trying to kill her! That had to be it!

The urge to run out of the training room was stronger than when she had first entered and she had to physically force herself not to move, struggling with herself internally as she tried to think of some way out of this arrangement. There was no way she could beat a member of Dauntless; she couldn't see it happening. Ryu had mentioned that her uncle was one of the strongest members in the compound but he had _many_ students that studied under him for years and they could even be in the room right now.

She glanced at the entrance of the training room and saw Tonya there, leaning against the large doorframe with her arms crossed, and she was smirking at Trixie's scared puppy expression. She gave a small thumbs up in encouragement and Trixie suddenly remembered that this was what they had been preparing for. Ryu had even mentioned that she was ready enough to take on a low ranked member of Dauntless if faced with one. Looks like that was happening today.

...

 **Eric**

A young man pushed his way to the front of the crowd, Eric's gaze zeroing in on him as he stepped forward and said, "I'll do it."

He didn't look that old, barely a year or two older than Trixie at best, but his face seemed to nag at the back of his mind, his memory telling him that they had met some time before. But when?

"Name?"

"Rowan, sir." The young man responded.

He was maybe a few inches shorter than Eric, with horribly pale skin and dark circles under his green eyes. His hair was a darker shade of brown and stringy like when someone stepped out of a shower, one side of his head completely shaved and exposing the spider tattoo inked there. He had a nose piercing and three piercings on each ear in different places. His body was thin and lanky, giving the impression that he didn't work out much, but his stance was confident and unworried of the girl behind him; in fact he almost looked excited.

A small voice in Eric's mind told him _not_ to pick the young man as Trixie's opponent but no one else was volunteering and it would raise unnecessary questions if he didn't let him fight now.

Eric raised his hand and beckoned the young man forward, walking one step ahead of him as they met Trixie in the middle of the ring, and he stood to the side so the two of them could size each other up.

One glance at Trixie told Eric that she was nervous about the new development but she showed no sign of backing down, a quality he respected but wouldn't admit out loud. He was curious himself at what the young girl was capable of and he was impatient to get the match started. Would this ordeal prove to be worth his attention or would it be a waste of time?

"This isn't an official match but it will be fought like it is. Use the skills you have and fight until the other is unable to continue." Eric explained shortly, walking backwards until he was on the outside of the ring. When he was standing among his fellow Dauntless, he raised a hand, and waited until the two opponents backed into a ready stance.

"Begin."

...

The young man lunged forward, throwing a punch directly at Trixie's face, and she leaned back in a dodge and circled around until she stood behind him with her hands placed defensively near her face.

He swung his arm out as he spun to face her, hoping to catch her off guard, but she swatted his arm past her face, and stepped into his space to land a solid punch to his nose. He growled in pain and grabbed her shoulders as he brought his knee up to her midsection. Her arms were already there blocking the strike but the second time she grabbed him behind his knee and threw her weight forward into his body, causing Rowan to fall back on the mat as Trixie rolled and came to a stand, going back into a defensive position.

Rowan came to a crouch, looking over her stance to find any weakness to exploit, but found nothing that would help him land a solid blow. Standing, he decided to try a different tactic, and suddenly lunged at her in attempt to tackle her.

His shoulder struck Trixie straight in the stomach, knocking the air from her, and she realized he was trying to heft her over his shoulder as if he was going to throw her, which was a shock with his skinny body. One of Ryu's moves came to the forefront of Trixie's mind and she locked her legs around his torso, and curled around his upper body as she felt her back hit the mat, the blow softened considerably due to her somewhat fetal position. When she felt Rowan try and rise, one of her hands locked onto the back of his head, and she held him in place long enough to land two hits straight to his face before drawing her legs from around him to curl in front of her chest and kick him off of her.

Trixie scrambled to come to a stand right as Rowan came at her again, bending and leaning her body out of the way of Rowan's punches and the occasional kick, and she could tell he was getting irritated about it.

There was a moment of panic when he faked a shot to her face and went for her stomach, causing her to bend over him pain, giving him the opportunity to land a kick to her face, which sent her rolling away from him.

Her stomach churned painfully from the blow and her head pounded as her vision became blurry. The sound of approaching steps made Trixie blink to clear her sight and she brought her arms up to block another kick meant for her head. Seeing an opening, she lunged at his midsection, tackling him like he had done to her earlier, and made him fall flat on his back with her straddling him. She managed to get in a few good punches before he shoved her off, making her roll to the side.

They both came to a stand, Rowan clearly more exhausted than Trixie from trying to land a hit on the female, but she was faster than people gave her credit for. Eric himself was surprised at the level of defense she was showing.

Trixie saw a mistake in Rowan's stance, noticing that his left side was more open than his right, and decided to take the initiative to attack first.

She stepped forward and faked a hit to his middle, going for his throat and landing a chop to his throat, causing him to choke on his breath, and spun around to land a solid elbow strike to his temple. Rowan stumbled, his hand coming to grab his head, and turned towards Trixie right as she jumped and used both feet to drop kick him in the very center of his chest, knocking what little breath he had out of his system and sending him out of the ring, rolling until he came to a stop right at Eric's feet.

Rowan pushed himself onto his hands and knees, coughing as he tried to breathe properly, and came to a quick conclusion that he didn't want to take another blow like that _again._

Trixie moved to stand on the edge of the ring, looking hesitant to attack again with her opponent technically out of her reach, but standing at the ready in case he decided to lunge at her again.

Rowan slowly stood, swallowing back the coppery taste of blood in his mouth, and raised his hands in defeat.

"I fold."

Trixie paused, surprised at Rowan's admit to defeat, and looked at Eric for what to do next.

Eric moved around Rowan until he was standing to the side of him, his brow raised and he questioned, "Excuse me?"

Rowan shook his head and repeated, "I give up. She wins. I won't fight her anymore."

Trixie looked at him suspiciously, waiting for him to say more, but he simply stepped back on the mat and held his hand out for her to shake. She didn't take it for a moment, glancing at Eric for a moment to see if it was alright, but he had turned away to face the crowd of Dauntless viewing the fight, announcing that Trixie had won the match.

The people watching applauded the young girl as Rowan took her hand and gave it a light shake. "I have to say initiate, you put up more of a fight than I expected."

He suddenly yanked her forward, making her nearly lose her balance, and whispered low enough for only her to hear, "You should have put up more of a fight the last time we were together."

Trixie's whole body felt cold as she slowly pushed away from Rowan, only to be met with a smile that she had seen before, and came to a horrifying realization that this was not the first time meeting Rowan.

She had met him before.

A year ago.

In the empty halls of the Dauntless compound.

With two of his friends.

Fear overtook her body and she found herself turning away, near stumbling as she walked off the mat before breaking into a sprint, ignoring Eric when he called for her, and continued running as fast as her legs could carry her.

...

For the rest of the day, Trixie skipped training and lunch, and stayed in the initiate's bunker.

Laying beneath the covers on her bed, Trixie curled up into a ball and clutched her pillow to her chest.

How could this be? How could he still be in the faction? Why hadn't he been caught yet? There were cameras everywhere, surely someone caught on tape what had happened to her, or at least he could have been seen running from the area he had left her in.

How could this be?

Now that she knew what he looked like and that he was living in the Dauntless compound, Trixie didn't want to leave her bed in fear of seeing him, and didn't know if she should tell someone or not. If she told someone, would they take her word for it? It had been a year since the incident and there was a chance very few people even remembered it. And even if they did, how could she get them to take her word for it? How could she prove that it was Rowan who attacked her?

Her uncle might help, but there was no guarantee that he would since he hadn't talked to her since her first day of training, and even if he did what could he do?

Four would no doubt watch out for her and try to find a way to prove the man was guilty but Tris would most likely give him trouble for spending so much time Trixie when he barely had enough time these days for his own girlfriend. The last thing Trixie wanted to do was put Four in a position that made him feel as if he had to choose between her and Tris.

Tonya?

No. Absolutely not.

Tonya knew nothing of her past and she wanted to keep it that way. No one else needed to know. But a small part of Trixie hoped that there would be a time where she could tell Tonya everything and that it would be alright; however it was still too soon to tell what Tonya would do if she found out what had happened a year ago.

 _What about Eric?_

What about him?

As sad as this was to admit, Trixie felt more safe with Eric than she did with her uncle or Four, but she couldn't even explain why. He was strong that was for sure but at the same time she was certain that he didn't care about her enough to look into this matter. He was Dauntless, he was one of their leader's, he had more important things to worry about than her. She wasn't even sure he would believe her if she told him. And why would he? What has she done to earn that level of attention for him? Nothing.

While she knew this to be true, it was even more difficult for her to hold back her tears, and she buried her face into her pillow.

There weren't very many things Trixie wanted and even fewer things that she needed; after all she had been taught to be selfless and unwanting for things ever since she was little.

There was only one thing she truly wanted and never stopped craving ever since she was little. And that was to feel _safe._

To feel loved and protected by those around her.

That was all she wanted but it felt like too much to ask.

But was it?

"Trixie?"

It was Nala.

Peeking her head out from beneath her comforter, Trixie called out, "I'm over here."

Nala walked down the aisle of bunk beds until she came to stop at Trixie's, kneeling beside the bottom bunk where Trixie lay. "Are you feeling better?" she asked.

Trixie pushed herself into a sitting position, letting the covers fall around her waist, and she gave Nala a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"Four said you had a match today and that you weren't feeling well afterwards so you came to the bunker for a nap. It's almost time for dinner."

Had time really gone by so fast? The day was almost over!

Trixie gave a small smile and said, "I'll change really fast and we can go eat."

Nala smiled in return and nodded her head, standing from her kneel and walking away towards the entrance of the bunker to give Trixie some privacy.

Trixie herself got out of her bed and pulled out the small trunk resting beneath it, grabbing a long sleeved black shirt and a pair of socks. She pulled the shirt over her sports bra that she'd been laying in and pulled on the socks and boots before leaving the bunker with Nala. Together they made their way to the mess hall.

...

The mess hall was already full by the time they got there, everyone sitting at a table and eating away to their heart's content, but Trixie didn't feel very hungry; if she was completely honest with herself, she was worried she wouldn't be able to keep it all down.

They quickly moved through the food line, Nala filling hers with mostly breads and vegetables, but all Trixie grabbed was a burger and a bottle of water. She figured if she ended up wanting more then she could eat off of Tonya or Ryu since they seemed to always get more than they could chew.

As Nala led them to the table where the others sat, Trixie looked around the room, and immediately found Eric eating at a table that was close to where Tonya and Ryu were. He looked up as they got closer, his eyes going hard as he chewed his food slowly and watched her as they got closer. Despite his blank expression, she could tell he was going to want to... _discuss_ her actions from before, and he _would_ approach her whether she wanted him to or not.

Tonya and Ryu looked up as they came to the table, Ryu looking excited while Tonya's expression looked somewhat...wary. It was no surprise to Trixie that her friend could already tell something was wrong; however she also knew her friend wouldn't force it out of her unless she thought it were extremely important.

Trixie took her usual seat at the end of the table with Nala sitting on her right and Tonya across. This time Trixie could feel Eric at the end seat at the table behind her, his presence strangely calming as she took a bite of her burger.

"Sooooo," Ryu looked as if he were jumping in his seat, "I heard someone won their first match today!"

Trixie slowly swallowed her first bite before forcing a smile. This was something she wanted to avoid but also knew was unavoidable.

She shook her head and argued, "It doesn't count. He gave up after a few minutes."

Ryu pointed a finger at her, "Ah ah, people don't give up unless they get scared or feel cornered, and you-you little bundle of fire-made the guy feel one of those ways. And _that_ is what's important. That means we're getting somewhere with you."

Trixie gave a tiny smile and shook her head, the shorter hairs she had tucked behind her right ear coming down from its confined position, and tickled her face. Was she really making progress? Or was Rowan faking it?

She glanced at Tonya, who had been silent since Trixie sat at the table, and found that her friend was staring at her. Her eyes were narrowed as if she were searching for something hidden in Trixie's face but couldn't seem to find it.

 _Not everything can be discovered that way._

Trixie nibbled on her burger as Ryu began to go over the different routines he wanted to try with her over the next couple of days but couldn't give him his full attention as she glanced around the room every few seconds.

The hall was fairly large; more than half of Dauntless could eat there at once comfortably with a little extra space and, in case of emergency, could fit the entire compound as long as some people didn't mind sitting on the floor.

There was a good chance Rowan was in the room.

The thought sent shivers down her spine and she suddenly wanted to go back to the bunker and crawl under the covers. She knew she would feel better there than she did here.

...

 **Eric**

While the match had gone better than expected, what he didn't expect was for Trickster to run out like a scared rabbit being chased by a wolf.

He had called after her. She didn't respond. That alone made his blood burn a tiny bit. However that also made him curious as to _why_.

What was she so afraid of?

It was a possibility that the young man-Rowan if he remembered correctly-had threatened her in some way but he knew she acted differently when it came to things like that. She wouldn't run like a scared rabbit. The Trickster he knew would have said something by now or even done something. She would have fought not ran.

But that's exactly what she did. She ran.

And he wanted to know why.

He searched for her through most of the compound before Max had pulled him away, stating that his presence was being demanded by Jeanine herself at Erudite, so he put his search on hold until he was able to return. He was once again halted however when he searched the training grounds only to be told she hadn't been there all day. Apparently his Trickster was also good at hiding.

Instead of continuing his search, Eric concluded that if she was hiding then she did not want to be found, and predicted that she would turn up eventually.

And he predicted right.

She turned up in the mess hall a few minutes after the rest of the initiates, sitting at the table behind him as luck would have it, and he spent most of the time listening carefully to what she and her friends were saying.

They didn't say much but it was clear that Trixie was uncomfortable being there.

So many _why_ 's stood in his way though.

...

Unable to stomach another bite of her burger, Trixie finished the last of her water before announcing to her friends that she was tired and would be retiring to the bunker for the rest of the night.

Tonya looked as if she wanted to speak but thought better against and remained silent, giving a small nod of acknowledgement.

Trixie gathered the rest of her tray and headed towards a trash bin near the exit, trying to decide whether or not she wanted to risk a shower without the help of her friends.

She tossed what was left on the tray into trash before setting it atop of the small pile of trays already on the small metal table nearby, turning to leave when she ran into another person who also had a tray in their hand.

She took a step back to regain her balance and went to apologize but felt the words catch in throat upon seeing Rowan standing in front of her.

He chuckled as if embarrassed and set the tray down on the table, running a hand through his string like hair, "Sorry about that. Wasn't watching where I was going."

Trixie took a step back, looking down at her feet as she wrapped her arms around herself, but didn't respond in hopes that he would just walk away.

No such luck.

"I want you to know that I don't take the loss personally; after all I did give up in the end." He spoke in a casual tone. She knew he was doing it for the sake of appearances and refused to play along with him. He reached to lay a hand on her shoulder and she moved away as if the gesture would sting her.

His eyes filled with rage but then went blank in an instant, a smile covering what he was really feeling, and he asked, "No hard feelings?"

He held his hand out for her to shake, and she stared at it as if touching it would burn her; however she didn't stay long before she walked away, planning on leaving the way she came in.

She had to force herself not to run as she strode by the tables filled with people who were clueless of the threat standing in the room with them. No one looked at her as she walked by; most of them focused on their own meals and conversations to even glance in her direction.

No one except Eric.

Her steps faltered as their eyes connected, his gaze full of questions demanding to be answered about her odd behavior.

A part of her, the part that was still a small girl running around the compound for someplace safe to hide, urged her to go to Eric and tell him everything so he could protect her, but the realistic side reminded her that she was not a child and she couldn't depend on Eric for something like that. She was nothing but entertainment to him and she knew it. The silver earring he had given her last year begged to differ but she refused to assume a possibility that was most likely not even true.

She wanted to be near Eric to feel safe.

She couldn't be selfish.

It was that thought that had her feet carry her out of the mess hall towards the bunker, her eyes constantly glancing over her shoulder out of fear of being followed.

...

 **OH SHIT**

 **OH SHIT**

 **CATCH YOU OFF GUARD? IT DID FOR ME LOL**

 **So she meets the man who attacked her the year before. Things are bound to get crazy don't you think?**

 **Also, Tonya and Eric have a past! Whaaaaaat?**

 **Tell me what you think happened between them AND what you think _will_ happen between Trixie and Rowan. Will Eric get involved?**

 **FAVORITE, FOLLOW, & REVIEW!**

 **~CoolCat0720**


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry it took me so long to update! I made it half way through the chapter when I moved to Montana! I have been using my free time to adjust and get settled since I will be living here for the next year or so. I have a job now and I will be getting a second job in a few weeks so my writing time will be limited for a bit but after the month of June and in the middle of July I will be going back to having one job and I will have more time to write during the day!**

 **Thank you all so much for your patience!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the Divergent series or any of it's characters except for my OCs. Tonya and Ryu belong to my friend ChaosChick21!**

 **Chapter 6) Cruel Methods**

 **Eric**

Something wasn't right.

Something was...wrong.

The halls of Dauntless seemed different; vacant, almost, to Eric as he made his way to his office. His steps echoed as he walked, his posture straight and his head high, but no one would be able to tell that his mind was a tangled mess full of confusion and uncertainty.

Trickster was worried.

Trickster was scared.

No, she was _terrified._

He had seen her scared before but he had never seen her terrified. It was a look that he didn't like seeing; a look that didn't belong on her face.

He needed to know. He needed to know why.

But he didn't have all the facts.

 _Think Eric, think._

She had first started acting afraid ever since her mock fight with another Dauntless member, that young man named Rowan. Had the fight scared her? Had he been too rough with her? No, that wasn't it, but her fear appeared right afterwards.

After her encounter with Rowan. Did she know him? Had she met him before? Did he harass her at some point in the past?

 _You know his face..._

Eric paused in the hallway and his eyes widened as he stared ahead of him. The realization hit him like a wall of cement.

 _You KNOW his face!_

Eric changed direction, heading towards the security room instead of his office. He needed answers and now he knew how to get some.

People moved out of the way as he passed them, his whole body rigid as he forced himself to remain calm, but no one made an advance or spoke a word to stop him. He would have ignored them anyway.

It only took him two minutes to make it to the security room, the three men manning the computers oblivious to his entry until he spoke up. "I need access to the records."

All three of them jumped, swiveling their chairs around to face him, but after a moment only one stood to address him. The man was an inch shorter than Eric, shaved head with tattoos crawling up his neck from beneath the collar of his long sleeved shirt, and bright green eyes that were full of surprise at his sudden arrival. He had one piercing on the upper part of his ear and Eric immediately thought of Trixie but forced that thought from his mind as soon as it arrived.

"Sure thing," the man nodded as he gestured to a lone desk in the corner of the room with three small moniters hanging on the wall, making it easier for a person to see if they were standing. He sat in the chair and logged into the system, the screens lighting up as he accessed the records database. "What exactly are you looking for, sir?"

Eric leaned forward, resting his hand on the desk, and replied, "I need everything we have on a member named Rowan. He passed initiation about a year ago."

The man nodded and typed away furiously at the keyboard as various files and photos popped up on the screen. Suddenly a profile picture appeared, showing a younger version of Rowan with a full head of hair without the side shaved, and surprisingly he was wearing glasses. Interesting.

"Pull up his final scores."

The man nodded and pressed a couple of buttons before a small chart came on the screen and Eric leaned forward to read the small print detailing his initiation process. What he read confused him.

His scores were horrible, almost too low to be considered acceptable, and his final score showed that he was one point above the passing grade.

"This doesn't make sense." The man murmured next to Eric, zooming in to see the chart better.

"What is it?" Eric urged him to explain.

The tech adjusted the screen so it showed only the scores in number form and pointed at them. "The scores...they don't add up right."

Eric looked at the inidividual scores of each trial before adding them up in his head and realized that the man was indeed correct; the numbers didn't add up to the final score that was inputted in the system.

"Is it possible that there was a mistake made in the calculations?" He asked the tech but the man shook his head.

"It's unlikely. The system wouldn't make this kind of mistake. The only way for this to be possible is if it was put in manually but only a few selected have access to the scores during initiation."

Eric straightened up and clasped his hands behind his back.

"Interesting."

The man began typing again, pulling up different pieces of information they had on Rowan during initiation, but Eric stopped him.

"See if Rowan has any family in Dauntless."

Nodding, the tech typed up the new search and the screen lit up a second later.

"Got it. He has a brother."

A picture of a burly looking man with brown cropped hair and a light beard came up on the screen next to Rowan's picture. His expression was emotionless and he had a vertical scar over his left eye.

"Is there any way know who had access to the initiation scores?" Eric asked him.

Wordlessly the man searched the system for the records from last year, pulling up a list with names and pictures of you logged in during the initiation, and sure enough Rowan's brother was on the list.

Eric figured it was certain that the brother must have changed Rowan's score during initiation so that he would pass but as to when he had a chance to do this was a mystery; after all the log in date showed that the score was changed right after the initiation process and not during. Which meant Rowan should have become Factionless. But he wasn't.

"Send everything you have on these brothers to my office through a locked file so no one can access it but me. Erase all history on this search and keep this to yourself. Do I make myself clear?"

The man stared down at his hands resting on the keyboard and nodded. "Yes sir."

"Good."

Eric turned and went to walk away when he paused and added, "One more thing,"

The tech remained still, showing that he was listening.

"Send me Rowan's medical records from last year as well."

...

 **Four**

For the next couple of days, Trixie walked around as if in a daze, and when someone approached her to ask if she were alright she would flinch away in fear. Tonya, Nala, and Ryu were the only ones she felt comfortable enough to let a portion of her guard down when they were around. However, her strange behavior wasn't unnoticed by her friends, and Ryu mentioned this to Four a few times in hopes that he would know what to do. He didn't.

Four himself noticed Trixie's odd behavior and remembered the only other time she acted this way was after what had happened the year before. Even when she had been locked away in her room to recover and he had been there with her, she would lay on her side and stare at the wall in a daze, but would flinch everytime she heard something or felt someone touch her.

The way she was acting now was the same way she had acted back then.

It didn't take him long to come to the possibilty that she had run into her attacker some time around the match.

When had it happened though?

And why hadn't she come to him?

Too many questions ran through his head and he wanted nothing more than to approach her himself so he could get answers. But something stood in his way.

"I think you're overreacting."

More like a someone.

"Are you sure she isn't just...in a mood? It could be-you know-that time of the month."

Four sighed as he leaned against the railing, watching the sun set from his apartment, and said, "I doubt it. I'ver never seen her act this way except when-"

"She was attacked." Tris finished for him.

He nodded.

Sighing irritably, Tris pulled one of Four's shirts on before coming to stand next to him on the balcony. "Four, I get that you worry for her because of what happened but honestly, you both need to let that go."

Four pushed off the railing to face her directly. "Tris you make it sound like it happened years ago. It only happened last year so of course I'm going to worry over her more than I should. And if anything, she's made more of a recover than I have, and I wasn't even the victim."

"But you still think she is one." Tris stated in a matter-of-fact tone, her arms crossed at her chest.

"I don't think she's a victim," Four bit out, becoming increasingly frustrated with his girlfriend, "I just don't want her to become one again."

"Then stop worrying like this and let her work this out by herself. It's possible she's just worried about her next match or the second phase of initiation. We all got nervous about that."

"Yeah but that's the thing Tris; she isn't nervous, she's _terrified_. And it isn't because of the initiation trials. It's something else."

Four was trying to express his concern as simply as he could but the look on Tris' face told him she didn't believe him.

And deep down he knew why.

Tris didn't like Trixie.

It wasn't anything personal but Tris had always been suspicious of Trixie's relationship with Four. While they had all grown up in Abnegation, Four and Trixie grew up as friends, and shared at bond that stronger than friends but wasn't always seen as sibling affection. While Four did care about Trixie as if she were his family, there were times where he went out his way to do things that not all siblings did for each other.

For one, they _had_ kissed before. It was a while back when Four had passed his initiation. He and Trixie were sitting in the rafters over the training area, despite Four's protest, and were talking about mushy stuff when Trixie had confessed that she hadn't been kissed yet. At the time she had been twelve so it was understandable but Four had also confessed that he hadn't had his first kiss yet, so they made a deal to be each other's first kiss just to get it over with.

And two, they _had_ slept in the same bed, but that was because Trixie had had a nightmare and Four felt compelled to calm to her down and offer his comfort. Sometimes when Four thought about it, he could still feel what it was like to have his body curled around her small one, and her hands felt tiny when she had clutched the arm wrapped protectively around her waist. While it wasn't sexual or anything, it felt more intimate than any other moment they'd shared, and it was mostly likely because it was the first time he had touched her and she hadn't flinched.

There were other times but those two moments stuck out in his mind because he knew Tris was using those as reasons not to trust Trixie and Four to be alone together at all.

But that wasn't his fault, or Trixie's.

Tris could only blame herself honestly. Despite the constant affection he gave her and the long periods of time he went without communicating with Trixie, Tris didn't trust him, and it was sad to say that Four was getting used to it. But he loved her too much to break it off and he knew she loved him just as much in return.

While most people couldn't make it in a relationship without trust, they were certainly going to try.

Four just hoped he wouldn't lose others that he loved in the process.

...

 **Tonya**

"Don't you think you're throwing...a little too hard?"

Tonya looked at Nala from the corner of her eye with a small glare and the smaller girl immediately looked away, deciding that Tonya most definitely was not in the mood for a conversation.

And she was right.

Tonya had woken up in a foul mood upon discovering that Trixie was already gone. The raven-haired girl had been near silent the past couple of days, not involving herself in any of their conversations, and when she was asked a question it was answered in so few words Tonya could count them on one hand.

It was _infuriating._

In Tonya's mind, if someone had a problem then it was understandable for them to try and solve it by themselves first before asking for help; Tonya was the same way at times. However this was different.

Trixie was _afraid_ to face her problem-whatever it was-and didn't seem on planning to face it anytime soon.

Naturally, Tonya wanted to know what it was, but she was better at keeping her curiosity to herself unlike Ryu and Nala. They had pestered Trixie with endless questions, asking to know what was wrong with her and if there was anything they could do to help, but Trixie denied there being anything wrong at all.

 _That's such bulshit..._

If there was one thing Tonya hated, it was being lied to; especially when the lie was extremely obvious.

 _THUNK!_

Her knife embedded deeply into the head of her target.

She ignored the concerned look Nala was giving her and reached for another knife, reeling her arm back to throw it, but paused when someone entered the training room.

Trixie.

Her friend looked as if she hadn't slept in days. She was still wearing clothes from the day before and the dark circles under her eyes made her look sick.

Nala perked up a bit at seeing there friend but Tonya's eyes narrowed at the dazed look in Trixie's eyes. It was like she had no idea she was even in the room.

Trixie was walking towards them slowly, her steps even but without direction, and Tonya grew worried with the idea of her being anywhere near knives if she was in such a state.

Tonya grew even more worried when Trixie failed to hear Nala's call, trying to get her attention, and felt a shriek build in her throat as she watched her walk close to one of the targets right as another initiate threw his knife.

As if in slow motion, the knife sailed through the air, going off course due to the lousy control of the boy who was throwing it, and went straight for Trixie who was looking up as it came towards her face-

Only to be caught by a pair of hands only a few centimeters away from the tip of her nose.

Everyone in the room froze, including Trixie who's eyes were wide with shock as she stared at the tip of the knife before slowly looking at the person who had just saved her.

With the knife clasped between his two hands, Eric stared back at Trixie with such fury Tonya was positive the fire in his eyes could burn down a building, and his expression showed his disgust as plain as day with the fact that Trixie had been walking around so carelessly without any regard for her safety in such a dangerous setting.

That was something that Eric hated with all of his being; the carelessness others could show when they knew better.

Trixie's lips moved but no words came out. She seemed to be struggling with what to say and that only made Eric more angry.

"You will not be participating in today's training session with the rest of the initiates; instead you will wait until training is over and work through evening meal time with me as your instructor. I _will not_ accept failure is that understood?"

The tone in Eric's voice gave no room for resistance or decline so Trixie merely lowered her gaze to the floor and nodded.

He stared at her hard for a few more seconds before turning his back and walking away, his hands clenched so tightly at his side Tonya was positive the skin would split on his knuckles.

He was _livid._

Tonya watched him go and couldn't stop herself from thinking that there were only a handful of times she had seen him that upset.

But it was never over something like this.

So why?

...

 **Trixie**

"Again."

Trixie inhaled deeply through her nose before picking up a small knife and taking position, throwing it as hard as she could, but felt her heart sink as it embedded itself on the target board even further from where her last throw had landed; a couple inches to the right of the head.

Missed again.

 _Of course it had to be knife throwing..._

Out of knives, Trixie moved over to her target and yanked each knife out that managed to stick before bending down to pick up the rest off the floor.

She turned and walked back towards the table, setting the knives down on the flat surface, then moving back to where she was standing before. She waited for Eric's next instruction, telling her to pick up a knife again, and did as she was told and threw the knife again but adjusted her aim right as she released.

It went _way_ off course, flying down south, and landing with a hard _THUNK_ in the crotch of her target.

 _Ouch..._

She heard Eric exhale behind her, no doubt annoyed with the lack of progress they had made in the past hour, and wondered if he was sick of training her and would let her go for the night.

Not a chance.

"You're not trying." He stated.

"Believe me, I am," Trixie countered instantly.

"Don't test my patience," He growled out with annoyance, "Because believe me you don't want to see it run out."

Trixie paused for three seconds before sighing defeatedly, "I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me to be honest. I can't just...snap into combat mode like you can. My mind doesn't work that way."

She turned to look at Eric, who was standing a few feet behind her, and found him staring at her with a contemplative look.

"Wait here." He finally told her before turning around and heading for the exit, his body becoming a shadow when he stepped out from under the few lights he had turned on when they first arrived; his steps echoed so loud it made the hairs on Trixie's arms stand up.

She waited until the door slammed shut before sighing, turning back to her target board that seemed to be taunting her with her failure.

 _What is wrong with me?_

She picked up another knife and continued to practice, going over Eric's instructions in her mind as she moved into her stance and aimed, but sighed in defeat when she missed. _Again._

She didn't stop though.

She kept at it, doing her best to not overthink the process as she threw knife after knife, and did a small mental cheer whenever she managed to hit the board close to where she wanted. That wasn't often though.

Trixie was well into her third round when Eric returned. He was holding a pair of gloves in one hand and a thin gray folder was tucked under his arm. When he was close enough he held the gloves out for her to take while he set the folder on the table. "Try these on." He told her when she took them from him, crossing his arms in that intimidating way that he did.

Trixie blinked. She hated when he did that; his arms were quite distracting when they were... _flexed_ that way and part of her guessed he knew that.

 _God he's such an arrogant jerk._

 _A_ macho _arrogant jerk but still-_

Trixie felt her cheeks get warm at that thought and she immediately distracted herself by slipping on the gloves and holding her hands out to examine them better. The material was a thin leather that stretched comfortably around each of her fingers and only came down to the middle of her palm. She used the strap on the back of her hand to adjust the tightness until she was positive they wouldn't fly off her fingers mid-throw. She doubted they would though.

"Your grip slips on the knife when you throw," Eric explained to her. "These will help you keep a tighter hold on them."

She nodded in understanding and picked up another knife, feeling the immediate difference.

Eric took a step back and ordered, "Start again."

Trixie slipped into her stance and took a deep breath before throwing, her grip on the knife better than it had been, and she had to keep from jumping with joy when it landed an inch away from where she wanted it to go which was the heart. She turned to him with a triumphed smile but he shook his head.

"Again." He ordered.

This continued for another hour. While Trixie made significant improvement, Eric didn't seem like he would be satisfied until she could hit every vital point with perfect accuracy.

He told her to aim for the heart, she would hit it an inch or two off target.

He told her to aim for the head, she would hit the throat.

She was making progress but it wasn't enough. Not for Eric.

"This is turning out to be a waste of my time." He growled out and ran his fingers throw his hair, making some of the neatly combed back strands fall in his eyes as he moved to where she was standing at the table. Looks like he had reached the end of his patience.

He yanked the knife Trixie was holding out of her hand and held it up right in front of her face, nearly making her go cross-eyed.

"You aim to throw and you throw to _kill._ " He told her coldly before throwing the knife himself. It landed directly in the heart of target board, wobbling a bit from the force of the throw, but sticking an inch or two deep nonetheless.

He looked from the target board to Trixie, his eyes hard with killer intent. "That's _how_ you throw a knife."

His breath fanned her cheeks and she felt herself flush when she realized that the space between them was a mere few inches and she turned away, her fists clenched tightly at her sides as she looked down at the table where the knives lay, and she tried to speak, "I get that-"

"No, you don't." Eric rudely interrupted her, grabbing the folder, and storming around the table over to the target board. He pulled out a single piece of paper and let the now empty folder drop to the floor. He then ripped out the knife he'd thrown out of the target board before slamming the piece of paper over the area where the face would be and pinned it there with the small blade.

When Eric stepped away from the board, Trixie felt her body turn cold and her heart drop.

The piece of paper pinned to the target board was actually a picture.

A picture of Rowan.

Her skin crawled and she looked at Eric. His face gave away nothing of what he was thinking and-if Trixie was completely honest with herself-she didn't want to know. No matter what he was trying to accomplish with her, it was not worth this.

He jerked his head towards the target board and said, "Throw it."

She shook her head frantically," I can't-"

"Do it." Eric ordered harshly.

Trixie hesitated before slowly picking up a knife, clenching it tightly in her hand, staring at Rowan's picture as she tried to control the whirlpool of emotions raging inside her mind. She lifted the knife and tried to aim but found her hands shaking horribly.

She couldn't do it.

While it probably wasn't his intention, Trixie couldn't help but feel as if she were being forced to face her past, and she wasn't ready. She didn't know if she would ever be ready.

If she were to become Dauntless, she knew she would have to face her fears, but this...this was too much.

She wasn't ready.

Lowering the knife, she looked at Eric, and shook her head. "I won't do it."

Trixie turned away and headed for the exit.

"He hurt you."

She froze.

"He almost beat you to death."

 _Stop it..._

"He tried to _rape_ you."

 _Don't..._

She could feel her whole body shaking as she listened to Eric's footsteps come closer and stop near the table.

"If you can't even muster the strength to face a piece of _paper_ , then you're dead against a _person_."

 _I know that!_

Tears were beginning to well up in her eyes but she kept her mouth shut so she wouldn't make a sound. She wouldn't cry here.

Not in front of _him._

Not Eric.

Anyone but Eric.

If she cried in front of him, his words would only hurt more, and make her feel even worse than what she already felt about herself. She knew she had to learn this but...

 _I can't do it!_

Eric took abother step towards her. "If he finds you again..."

Another step. "If he gets you alone..."

 _Stop it._

One more step. "He will try again...And he will succeed. No one will save you this time."

"That's not true." Trixie whispered harshly. Despite how shaky her voice sounded, she was surprised that she could even speak.

She could feel Eric's eyes burning at her back. "Prove me wrong."

 _Shut up..._

"Prove me wrong." He repeated stronger.

 _Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!_

"Prove me wrong!"

With a scream, Trixie whirled around and threw the knife with every ounce of power she had. Eric barely had time to turn his body and lean out of the way as it flew past him and landed on the target board, embedding itself deep between Rowan's eyebrows.

Trixie stared at the board for only a moment longer before turning and heading for the door with every intent to leave this time. She could hear Eric follow quickly behind her and she barely made it to the door when she was grabbed and forced against the wall, Eric's hands gripping her upper arms so tight the blood flow stopped.

She refused to look at him, instead choosing to look at their feet, but Eric shook her and forced her to meet his gaze.

He looked ready to say something but he stopped, the look on his face changed upon seeing her red face and teary eyes.

They stared at each other, Trixie's eyes pleading with him to let her go, but his seemed to be searching for something.

What he was hoping to see she had no idea and she didn't care; all that she wanted was to run.

After a minute, Eric's gaze seemed to soften the tiniest bit, and his grip loosened on her arms. He slowly released her and took a step back, allowing her to take the chance to push the doors open and run. She didn't turn to see if he followed.

 **...**

 **SO WHAT DID YOU THINK?!**

 **I'M NOT GONNA LIE THIS WAS A BIT INTENSE EVEN FOR ME LOL**

 **I thought about making them kiss in the end there but then I figured it was too early so...SORRY GUYS NO KISS YET LOL**

 *****I have something I need your help deciding on though. I got a few messages asking if there was going to be a love triangle between Trixie, Eric, and Four. I need to know if you guys would want that? LET ME KNOW THROUGH A MESSAGE OR A REVIEW! If you want it, I'll do it :)*****

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I will get to work on the next one right away!**

 **FAVORITE, FOLLOW, AND REVIEW!**

 **FOR THE LOVE OF GOD REVIEW PEOPLE! IT DRIVES ME TO WRITE FASTER!**

 **~CoolCat0720**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys! I'm so sorry this chapter took me so long to get out. I'm gonna be completely honest with you and confess that I had a hard time writing this chapter and ended up redoing it at least twice because I wasn't satisfied with it no matter how I wrote it; I still think it could have come out better but its MUCH better than how it first came out.**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter! ChaosChick I hope I portrayed Tonya correctly in this chapter and I can't thank you enough for letting me borrow her for my story! And Ryu as well!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs. Tonya and Ryu belong to the amazing ChaosChick21!**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Chapter 7) Trust Earned**

Though she didn't know where her feet would take her, she wasn't surprised when she ended up at the initiates bunker, quietly walking over to the bunk where Tonya lay, and kneeling slowly as she tried to think of a way to wake her friend without getting hit. The last person to just shake her awake received a bruised cheek that lasted for three days. Tonya blamed it on the man who tried to wake her but Ryu believed it to be her reflexes. It wasn't uncommon for a female member to be assaulted when they were most vulnerable but Tonya was more than prepared to handle the situation should it ever arrive.

Trixie hadn't been so lucky the year before.

Doing her best to keep from making a sound, Trixie reached out and poked Tonya's shoulder that was covered by the comforter.

" _Tonya?_ " Trixie whispered as she gently poked her friend once more when she gave no response.

The female stirred, letting out a small groan at being disturbed, and opened one eye.

"Trixie?"

Tonya rubbed her eyes with the palm of her hands before slowly pushing herself up into a sitting position, groaning again as she forced her body to wake up. Once she could see properly in the dark, her gaze coming to rest on Trixie's face, her eyes narrowed a tiny bit at what she saw. Trixie realized Tonya must be able to see that she had been crying. And if she were completely honest, her tears hadn't quite finished yet.

Sighing, Tonya grabbed a pair of black sweats she had left at the foot of her bed and pulled them on before putting on her boots, standing from her bed as she reached a hand out to Trixie to pull her up from her kneeling position.

"Come on, you look like you got something to confess, and this is not the place to do it."

...

Trixie took Tonya to her balcony overlooking the Pit and they sat in silence for a minute or two; Tonya letting her friend gather the courage for whatever she was about to tell her. While she was relieved that Trixie was finally going to tell her what was going on in that mind of hers, she also had a feeling in her gut that she wasn't going to like what she was about to hear.

Sighing, Trixie folded her arms and rested them against the lower part of the railing, her chin resting in the crook of her elbow as she swung her feet back and forth over the edge, and said, "I guess I owe you an explanation as to why I've been acting weird these past couple of days."

"You don't owe me anything," Tonya quickly answered and leaned back on her hands. "However, if there's something you would like to tell me, I'm listening."

Trixie felt her courage shake and she almost considered backing out entirely so she wouldn't have to deal with the stress of having to explain everything that had happened the year before. But now, things were different. She now faced the danger of meeting Rowan and the possibility of reliving that horrid day of her past. She gripped her arms tightly at that and steeled her resolve. No, she would not face this alone. She was going to need help.

Staring down at the Pit below them, Trixie took a slow breath.

"About a year ago, during the last week of the final phase of initiation, I was...assaulted by three initiates, and nearly killed."

Once the first sentence came out, everything else poured out of Trixie like a waterfall, and every suppressed memory and emotion of that day and what followed after found it's way out of her heart. She told her about the attack and how she was saved. She told her about the nightmares and the fear that kept her in bed for the longest time. She told her about how two of the three men that attacked her were killed and the third one couldn't be found. She even told Tonya about her friendship with Four and how he comforted her in her time of need.

And while some part of her thought it was unfair to suddenly spring all of this on Tonya, it felt so _good_ to finally be free of it all, and she felt as if a small portion of her weight was lifting from her shoulders. It was still hard to tell someone all of these things but it was somehow becoming a tiny bit easier to say.

When she was finished, she waited in silence for Tonya to speak, and glanced at her friend beside her. Tonya was staring straight ahead, everything Trixie had told her was still processing in her mind, and her hands she was leaning back on were balled into tight fists. It was hard to read exactly what she was feeling.

Trixie looked away and stared at the empty Pit beneath them, a handful of people walking around since they had the night to early morning shift. She recognized a few of them but didn't know them personally.

"It was a few years back, not long after Ryu passed his initiation with your buddy Four, and his first job was being your uncle's Assistant Combat Instructor; at least until he was deemed capable enough to work alone."

Trixie's brow furrowed and she turned her body around so that her back was leaning against the railing, sitting parallel to Tonya with her feet pointing in the opposite direction. She looked at Tonya but her friend continued to stare straight ahead, her words sounding a bit strained but she went on.

"I would watch Ryu train with your uncle for hours, constantly getting his ass handed to him, but he improved a lot in a short amount of time; he did so well that your uncle was able to make him a Combat Instructor for Dauntless born initiates the next year."

The memory brought a smile to Tonya's face and Trixie was once again reminded of how much Ryu was very important to Tonya and she always smiled whenever she mentioned him or was conversing with him. Part of Trixie longed to have someone like that for herself.

 _Maybe one day I will..._

The smile quickly left Tonya's face and her eyes suddenly narrowed with anger, "When the new batch of initiates came, Ryu was struggling to get the results he needed, and most of the initiates were either too weak or had their heads stuck so far up their asses they refused to follow the simplest instructions. And while Ryu was strong enough to put them all in line, he didn't want to risk seriously injuring one of them, so he didn't...so...I involved myself."

Trixie's eyes widened and she carefully asked, "What do you mean... _you_ involved yourself?"

Tonya's gaze hardened as she looked down at her lap. "There was one initiate who _always_ challenged Ryu's authority in front of everyone and tried to make him look bad at every lesson. And while there were times Ryu could handle him and keep him in check...it only took a stupid comment about his relationship with me to snap."

"Your relationship?"

Tonya nodded and explained, "At the time, Ryu only ever hung out with me, and he's the only person I trust enough to let my guard down around. All the older members of Dauntless knew we were just looking out for each other but to others who saw a little girl and an teenage boy it looked like...something else. It looked...wrong."

Trixie thought she was going to be sick.

"I had been watching him teach that day when the initiate made that comment and while Ryu was able to restrain himself from hurting the idiot, I wasn't."

Silence ensued as Tonya's words sunk in.

"...How bad was it?"

Tonya gave a forced chuckled, the smile on her face looking sad and cruel, and she answered, "I tore him up so bad he was forced to become Factionless."

Trixie merely nodded, not knowing what to say, but she didn't need to speak when Tonya continued a moment later.

"After that, things seemed to settle down for a time. The initiates were more respectful and listened more to what Ryu had to say when he was training them. And since Ryu took responsibility for what happened so I wouldn't get into trouble, some of the leaders were impressed that he was taking his job seriously, but there was only one person who wasn't impressed in the least."

Trixie gulped and said with a quiet voice, "Eric."

Tonya nodded and went on, "He was the only one who didn't buy Ryu's story; he didn't believe it was Ryu that made the boy Factionless. So one day he came during one of Ryu's lessons and challenged him in front of everyone."

Yes, that sounded like something Eric would do, and Trixie could almost imagine the scene in her mind as if she had been there herself. He would have been younger, just starting out as a leader at seventeen, yet still be as intimidating as he was now. He would have walked into the training room as if he owned it and had every right to be there. He would have reveled in the fear of those who knew who he was and would have loved to show others why they should.

"Ryu, not wanting to cause a scene in front of everyone, turned Eric down and walked away, but then Eric began pestering him and would say to the initiates what a coward he was for not facing him like he faced the initiate. He said he was weak."

Tonya leaned forward, resting her elbows on the railing, her hands clasped tightly together. "Even though he was talking to Ryu, it felt like his words were directed at _me._ Every insult out of that asshole's mouth was like a blow to what I thought was my pride but I was to young to realize that it was my ego. I felt like I had to prove him wrong and that I wasn't as weak as he was saying. So...I challenged him."

Trixie's jaw dropped to the floor. "You didn't."

Tonya sighed tiredly and nodded, "I did."

For some odd reason, Trixie felt the urge to giggle like a little girl, and but her lip to keep from smiling as she asked, "And that went how...?"

"Well I had no real training and was in way over my head so yeah, I got my ass handed to me." Tonya answered her.

Trixie let out a sigh that sounded very close to a laugh and leaned her head back against the railing and closed her eyes, no longer able to keep the grin off her face. It was by no means funny, but the way Tonya talked about the match as if she were trying _not_ take make a big deal out of it made Trixie realize that her friend was embarrassed about the fact that she had been hot-headed and brave enough to face a _leader._ If that didn't make someone a Dauntless then she didn't know what did anymore.

"I uh, can't imagine how that must have felt afterwards." Trixie tried to sympathize, but she still couldn't wipe the grin off her face and felt as if she would burst with laughter when she looked over at her friend and saw her pouty expression.

"It was _humiliating,_ " Tonya groaned and leaned forward to hit her head against the railing as if it would knock the memory from her mind forever. "I'd never felt more shitty in my entire life or more embarrassed. And he knew it too."

"Yeah he has a habit of making people feel that way." Trixie laughed as she turned to give Tonya a smile but the the young woman already staring at her with a questioning gaze and she asked, "How do _you_ know Eric? Because from the looks of things you guys have some sort of history there."

Trixie shrugged and realized that there was no real way to describe... _whatever_ she had with Eric. He had a strange part in her life that was for sure but he wasn't constant. She would catch of glimpse of him every other day but the times they actually interacted with each other were few and far between. And every interaction always had an effect that left her, well, speechless. But every time she found herself in his presence she felt safe and that was a rare feeling to have in Dauntless; then again there were times where she felt like she was a lamb in the presence of a lion.

 _A very attractive lion if you-NOPE DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!_

Trixie coughed nervously and replied, "I'm not sure how to explain it. He's just been... _there_ at times and, well, that's just how it is; how it's always been."

"Huh," Tonya clicked her tongue as she stared at Trixie hard for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and looking across from them, saying, "Well, whatever you guys got going on, you need to tell him to stop staring at you because, I'm not gonna lie, it looks a bit creepy from time to time."

Tonya's casual tone made Trixie blush and she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them self-consciously and mumbled, "He does not stare at me."

"Denying it only makes it true."

"He _doesn't!_ " Trixie snapped with a furious blush on her face.

"Wanna bet?"

The two girls stared at each other when Tonya's eyes flicked repeatedly between Trixie and something behind her. Brow furrowed in confusion, Trixie leaned forward to move her back off the railing and glanced behind her. Directly across from them on the other side of the Pit was another small balcony much like their own. And just like their's it was occupied.

Eric stood leaning forward with his hands resting on the railing, his eyes focusing intensely on Trixie, and she whipped back around and pressed her face into her knee's with a groan. She must have looked as red as a tomato.

"Still don't believe me?" Tonya teased.

"Shut up."

Tonya chuckled, the dark mood slowly turning light as she turned to look at Eric and questioned with a thoughtful expression, "Do you think if I blew him a kiss, he'd catch it?"

" _Tonya!_ "

Tonya burst into laughter.

...

 _Thunk!_

Tonya whistled next to Trixie as she flipped the knife in her hand and stared at the target board and said, "Well would you look at that. Someone's getting better with their aim. Where'd you get the gloves?"

They were practicing knife throwing again today. Trixie and Tonya were next to one another but Nala had, unfortunately, been moved down a few spaces away from them. Their instructors must have been worried the three of them would stir up some kind of trouble. It wasn't unlikely.

Trixie blushed, thinking about how Eric had given them to her the night before, and coughed, "I-uh-got them to help me with practice."

Taking a moment to focus, Trixie stared at her target board before reeling her arm back and throwing another knife. It flew through the air and landed on the board with a _thunk_ in the area where the heart would be. It wasn't the head but it certainly was better than how she had been doing previously.

Her vague answer didn't satisfy the brunette and Tonya immediately smirked. "I know _why_ you have them, I just wanna know _where_ you got them from."

Trixie picked up another knife, trying to think of an answer that would satisfy her friend yet not give away that she had been with Eric the night before. She hadn't mentioned that part to her.

She went to aim at her target board when there was a small wind of movement behind her. Somehow, Trixie already knew who it was; only one person she knew would invade her personal space without invitation, and her face immediately turned red.

While she was still plenty upset with him about the night before, the heat emanating from his body warmed her back, and she couldn't fight the fact that, despite his cruel methods, he still made her feel safe.

"You show much promise, initiate," Eric whispered in her ear. "Tell me, how does one improve to such a degree overnight?"

Despite having been her instructor, here he was mocking her, trying to gauge a reaction to see what she was feeling no doubt, but Trixie didn't want to give him the satisfaction of showing just how much he got under her skin all the time. And he did. Last night only proved that fact.

Taking a deep breath and staring straight ahead, Trixie replied, "An expert like yourself should already know the answer."

She could practically feel him smirking behind her and he quipped, "Such improvement doesn't mean anything if you can't hit the target while facing the possibility of distraction."

Trixie blinked a few times and swallowed the nervous lump in her throat. What was he going to do?

"Throw it again." Eric instructed her.

Giving a small nod, Trixie picked up another knife from the table, pinching the tip of the blade between her thumb and pointer finger as she stared at the board, and tried to decide where to aim for next.

"Hit the very center of your target." He decided for her.

Trixie gave a small head tilt in agreement. It didn't seem like too hard of a task. But what was he going to do was the question gnawing at the back of her mind. It was indeed a simple area for her to target, no challenge whatsoever, and that wasn't Eric's style.

Slowly, Trixie focused on the very center of of her target, that being in the stomach area of the human outline, and drew her arm back to throw the knife.

Right as she moved her arm to release the knife, Eric was suddenly much closer and blew a small breeze of air into her ear, causing her to jump the tiniest fraction, and misdirecting the throw of her knife.

It whirled threw the air and landed on the target board to the left of her's, nearly taking out the hand of the male initiate who had been pulling his knives out of his own target board. He jumped as it landed with a loud _thunk!_ next to his hand and backed away until he bumped into his table, slamming a hand down to steady himself as he continued to stare at the knife that could have killed him if it had flown an inch more to the left.

Horrified and tremendously embarrassed by her actions, Trixie mumbled an apology to the initiate and waited for the verbal lashing she would no doubt receive from the man. He turned towards her, his expression absolutely furious, and he opened his mouth only a fraction when she felt Eric shift behind her. The initiate glanced at Eric and froze, his expression turning fearful and the color draining from his face. Without speaking a word, he swallowed slowly and turned back to his own target board, setting the knives he'd collected beforehand on his table to organize them.

Trixie breathed out a small sigh of relief and Eric chuckled quietly behind her and whispered, "You should watch yourself there Trickster. If it doesn't take much to make you twitch, I know it won't take much more to make you squirm."

Heat flooded her cheeks and she ducked her head in attempt to hide her flustered expression.

Eric chuckled again before turning away. Trixie didn't move until she heard his steps become faded enough for him to half way across the room and she glanced from beneath her curtain of bangs to see that he was talking to the instructor. She only watched him for a moment before releasing the breath she had been holding and raised her head. Glancing around, Trixie was surprised to see that no one was staring at her; no one was even looking in her direction. Perhaps Eric's presence was more intimidating than she assumed.

She heard a snort and turned to her right to see Tonya's shoulders shaking a small fraction, her lips pressed in a firm line as if she were trying to contain her laughter, and Trixie frowned.

"It's not funny." She mumbled low enough for only Tonya to hear.

Tonya shrugged and flipped the knife in her hand in a lazy manner. "I know I said I hate the man's guts but I have to admit that the way he teases you is quite amusing to watch."

Trixie groaned and set the knife in her hand down on the table, leaning forward on both hands as she pondered the thought that she was the most unlucky female on the planet at the moment.

...

"Alright, we're going start with some of the smaller arms and slowly work our way up." Four explained as he gestured to the long table covered with multiple guns varying in size.

Right as training had ended for the day, Four had come and snagged Trixie for a late night session of weapons training, and by weapons he meant guns. Lots and lots of guns.

They were standing on the roof of a building near the Dauntless compound, the night time bringing chilly air with it, and Trixie exhaled deeply as she wrapped Four's spare jacket tighter around her small body. At the other end of the roof were three targets in different sizes, and spread across the nearby rooftops were other targets that were further away from them. Four had set up construction lights near each of the targets so they could see where they were located despite the dark sky.

Four picked up the smallest gun and held it out towards her. Trixie hesitated before taking it from him and adjusted her grip as she examined it in the low light. It was one of the smaller pistols, more suited for one-handed aim, and making running with it easier. Because of it's small size it didn't appear to pack much power but she could be mistaken.

"Hit each of the targets at least once with each gun and try to shoot as close to the center as possible." Four explained as he pointed to the target boards. "The weapon you do worst with and the weapon you do best with are the ones we will work with first."

Trixie nodded and stepped out from behind the table to stand in front of it. She fixed her stance and raised the small pistol, her arms relaxed and her shoulders back as she focused on the first target that was closest to them. She felt Four move to stand next to her, and a quick glance showed his arms were crossed at his chest and his stance was relaxed. He was waiting for her.

Taking a deep breath, Trixie refocused her gaze on the target, and then squeezed the trigger.

The kickback was small but the sound of the shot was magnified in the silence and echoed across the rooftops. Without pausing to see where her first shot hit, she adjusted her aim accordingly, and squeezed the trigger three more times in quick succession, hitting three more targets near her first one. She moved her aim and shot the rest of the targets spread further out, taking her time to make sure she at least hit each one as close to the center as she could like Four instructed.

Once each of the targets-thirteen Trixie counted-had a single bullet hole, she lowered her gun and turned around to set it on the table before coming to stand next to Four as he pulled a small datapad from within his jacket. Turning it on, his finger swiped across the screen, and they were suddenly looking at her first target. Using his thumb and pointer finger on the screen, Four zoomed in the camera angle close enough to see that her first shot struck the ring closest to the bulls-eye.

"Not bad." Four told her as he rotated between each of the cameras and examined each of her shots. About five of them hit the bulls-eye and the rest came incredibly close. Even Trixie was surprised with herself.

Lowering the datapad, Four jerked his chin towards the table and ordered, "Next one."

 **Four**

This continued for the next hour and a half, Trixie starting off with the smallest guns and slowly working her way up to the larger rifles. For the ones too hard to hold up herself, Four pulled out a small tripod and had her set it up herself to see if she remembered his lesson from the other day. After a minute or so, he chuckled as she finally managed to get it standing without buckling once she went to place the gun atop it, and settled cross-legged beside her as she laid on the ground.

She seemed to do better with the long-ranged weapons he realized. Her accuracy was still pretty impressive with the short-ranged variety but she was on the last rifle, the same one she had used in the training room when they had last done gun training, and her shots were hitting the bulls-eye every time she pulled the trigger. Yup, definitely a sniper.

"I gotta say, I didn't think your results were going to be this good." He confessed as they looked over the zoomed in camera angles of her most recent shots. The grouping was nice and none of her shots had gone out of the second ring closest to the circle.

"I guess I have my uncle to thank for the extra practice." She told him as she worked on taking apart the tripod.

The statement, while it was supposed to sound glad, sounded soft and sad, and Four immediately sighed. Her uncle was never a happy topic.

It was a good thing he brought a surprise.

"Hold on." He called out to her as she went to head for the door that would lead them back inside.

Pausing in her steps, Trixie turned around and watched Four move towards the edge of the roof, and it was then that she noticed another large duffel bag that had been sitting next to a pile of old plywood. He hefted the bag onto his shoulder and brought it over to where the table was, setting it on the ground as Trixie came to a kneel beside him. Unzipping the bag revealed a large case that was usually used to store larger rifles, like the one she had just fired not minutes ago. There was a small keypad between the two safety locks and he typed in a six digit password before they unlatched with a _click_. Very slowly, he opened the case, and watched Trixie's jaw practically hit the floor.

Inside was a huge sniper rifle and it was a model Trixie had never seen before. The body itself wasn't as big as the rifle she had just used but its barrel was much longer and it's scope looked as if it was designed for greater distance. It had it's own shoulder strap and a detachable mini tripod.

On the side was the word _TRICKSTER_ in bold lettering.

She gave Four a dry look and scoffed, "Really?"

He chuckled and carefully hefted the rifle up out of the case, coming to a stand with Trixie along with him.

"Its a new model; a prototype to be exact. I thought if you did as well as I'd hoped, you'd like to try this out for me," Four told her as he held the gun out for her to take.

Trixie hesitated before taking the large weapon from him, feeling it's weight in her hands, and looked surprised.

"It's light." She commented out loud.

Four nodded and explained, "Meant for short distance travel. Makes it easier to change vantage points if the shooter wanted a different angle."

Trixie nodded and looked over the weapon. He could tell she liked the sleek design and the way it felt in her arms.

She looked at the word printed on the once more and huffed, "There any particular reason for this?"

Four scratched the back of his head sheepishly and replied, "Heard Eric call you that name once and thought it suited you."

They didn't say anything and Trixie merely nodded before turning away, moving to set the gun on an empty crate off to the side, kneeling behind it as she looked into the small scope and adjusted the setting. Apparently Eric was an off limits topic as well. Wordlessly, Four swiped the ammo box sitting in the large case and came to kneel beside her, opening the small box and setting it next to her so she could reach the bullets.

She grabbed one of the long slim bullets and loaded it into the chamber. Looking into the scope, Trixie adjusted her grip so one hand was hovering over the trigger and the other was gripping a small handle beneath the barrel.

Taking a deep breath, Trixie focused on the target that was the furthest one away, and squeezed the trigger.

Watching Trixie excel at something faster than the rest of the initiates gave Four a sense of pride. She was going stronger every day and he couldn't help but feel that one day she wouldn't need him watching over her from afar anymore. She would be able to watch it herself.

The echo of the gunshot rang loudly in his ears but he couldn't seem to hear anything but the sound of Trixie's breathing. She was too focused to notice the way he was watching her, studying the way she seemed to mold the gun as an extension of herself. This was why he brought it out for her to test in the first place. He'd had a strong feeling in his gut that she would be able to handle it and it turned out he was right.

Four's thoughts drifted to his conversation with Tris not too long ago and he was tempted to bring it up with Trixie now that the two had some time alone but he couldn't seem to bring out the words he so badly wanted to speak to his friend.

She wasn't a victim anymore. She never would if he could help it. But her behavior she had been in the past few days was still concerning to him. Trixie's mood had drastically improved when he had come to get her early at the end of training but that didn't mean he wanted to let it go as if it had never happened.

He wanted to know what had happened. He wanted to know what had gone wrong.

But he decided he wasn't going to ask.

If asking about it dragged her back into whatever place she had managed to drag herself out of, he decided knowing about it could wait.

He was satisfied being with her as they were now.

"Hey Trix," Four spoke softly, gaining her attention for a moment as she moved her gaze from the scope to him. "You know I love you right?"

His words made her pause for a few seconds before she left out a huff that sounded like a small laugh. She set the rifle down to lay on its side before coming to a stand and pulling him with her.

Wordlessly, she pulled him into a hug, wrapping her arms around his torso, and burying her face into his chest. In return, he wrapped his arms around her shoulders and back, holding her close as he kissed the top of her head, and rested his chin on her crown with a small sigh.

He wasn't lying; he really did love her. Trixie was a part of him as much as he was of her. They were best friends, brother and sister, and more than that.

He was _in_ love with Tris. But Trixie had a piece of him that his girlfriend might never get.

And he was alright with that.

...

 **Please tell me what you thought of this chapter! I thought Four needed some love so I added that last part in there at last second and it is probably the only part I'm truly happy with LOL**

 **So now we know why Tonya is so sour whenever it comes to Eric LOL Their personalities already clash so I thought what the hell, lets make them have a past too hahaha**

 **I'm so grateful for all the Favorites, Follows, and Reviews that I have been receiving! You guys have no idea how much it means to me to see that you guys are enjoying it this much and we haven't even made it to chapter 10 LOL I'm hoping to get to 100 reviews before I post my next chapter!**

 **It would mean the world to me if you review and tell me what you liked about this chapter and what you would like to see in the future chapters to come!**

 **Thank you all!**

 **Don't forget to Favorite, Follow, and Review!**

 **~CoolCat0720**

 **(P.S. I have seen Suicide Squad three times now and have fallen in love with Chato Santana. If you guys like that movie, I plan one posting a short story about that, and will be pairing Chato with one of my other OCs. Can you guess who? LOL)**


	8. Chapter 8

**YES PEOPLE, I AM ALIVE! BARELY LOL**

 **I am so so so so so so so so sorry it took me this long to get out this next chapter. Quite frankly, I am not going to go into detail as to whats been happening to me lately because all that matters is that I got this chapter out for you guys and I reall really hope you enjoy it because I rewrote it like twice and I'm still kind of iffy with how it came out. BUT ENOUGH CHATTER!**

 **PLEASE ENJOY THIS CHAPTER AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK!**

 **(P.S. I do not own this series or any of the characters except my OCs. I also do not own Ryu and Tonya as they belong to ChaosChick!)**

Chapter 8) Trying To Help

 **Eric**

Leaning back in his chair, Eric ran a tired hand over his face and breathed heavily through his nose. His desk was covered with everything he had pulled from the system on Rowan and his family and the conclusion he'd come to was the entire bloodline was fucked up.

Rowan's father had been from Dauntless, his mother from Candor, and his father had abused the woman to the point of committing suicide; she had hung herself right in their living room. She had left behind two sons, Rowan and his older brother Derek, who dealt with the abuse until their father was mysteriously murdered, but the culprit was never found. Eric had an idea why. Their statement claims they saw someone run out of their living quarters in a black hoodie but the video feed of the cameras malfunctioned coincidently on that same day.

His older brother Derek passed initiation with flying colors but was kept under watch for the first few weeks when he showed signs of extreme cases of anger and cruelty. He nearly killed the initiate he was facing in his final duel before moving on to the second part of initiation. After his graduation he was given jobs where he worked alone, cutting off most of his socializing, but he remained close with his brother whom he trained with apparently to help him pass initiation.

It didn't do much.

Rowan barely passed the physical portion and his fear simulations were one of the lowest in the record but for some odd reason, he passed.

A little more digging on Eric's part confirmed that the scores _had_ been changed manually right after the final initiation process to avoid detection. And it had been Derek who changed it. _Apparently, you'd do anything for family these days_ , he thought to himself. Not that Eric knew anything about that.

The medical records only confirmed what Eric had originally been searching for in the first place.

The year before when Trixie had been admitted into the medical area, Rowan had been admitted the day she left. His brother, Derek, had come with him, saying Rowan had gotten into a nasty brawl with another initiate. The description of his wounds nearly matched those of the two dead initiates that had been killed that night.

 _So his brother helped him..._

Clasping his hands in front of his face, he pressed his index fingers against his lips as if hushing himself, his eyes dark as he stared at Rowan's picture on his monitor screen.

Eric didn't like that a nest of snakes had been living right under his nose. While he was more than a snake himself, that was due to his Erudite background which honed his mind in the early stages of his childhood, but that's not what Dauntless was. Dauntless weren't scheming snakes that hid in the shadows.

And he planned to remind certain members of that.

Starting with the older brother.

...

 **Tonya**

"What do you mean you found nothing? How is that possible?!"

His black hair was damp from having just exited the shower when Tonya came bursting into his apartment shouting that she had an emergency before throwing a towel at him in a panic when she realized his nude state. When he had dressed in a pair of tight fitting pants and a gray tank top, she couldn't stop herself from spilling her guts.

When it came to keeping secrets, Tonya and Ryu were no doubt one of the best in the compound, but with Trixie's confession on her mind, she felt it necessary to tell Ryu of the girl's horrifying experience and how her attacker was alive and well hiding in plain sight of Dauntless. Wondering why no one had made an arrested or even beat the poor bastard, Tonya had asked Ryu to look into Rowan's past and meet up with her later.

An hour later, Ryu had found her and dragged her into an empty room that would soon be used for the second part of initiation; the fear simulations.

Upon pulling her in, he locked the door behind her and proceeded to tell her his findings.

Which had turned up empty.

He shrugged and ran a hand through his hair, sighing angrily before snapping, "How am I supposed to know that? I went to the records room myself and checked the system. My clearance is one of the highest besides the rank of leader but when I tried to open his personal files they were marked confidential and above my clearance access."

This made Tonya pause, the wheels turning in her head. "Someone else beat us to it."

Ryu's brow furrowed in confusion and asked, "Someone else?"

Tonya nodded, a small wave of unease swirling in her stomach at the thought. Someone else going into Rowan's past meant one of two things:

Someone knew who he was and was only now trying to get dirt on his offense against Trixie.

Or someone was trying to protect him.

That last thought made bile rise in the back of Tonya's throat. How could anyone want to protect someone like that after what they've done?

She looked at Ryu with hard eyes and swallowed, asking him in a cold voice, "What can we do?"

Trixie had placed a deep level of trust in Tonya which was something the brunette hadn't had in a very long time and she wanted to prove to Trixie that it wasn't misplaced. She would protect her whatever she could but what if, in the end, she couldn't do anything at all?

 _No, I will keep her safe...I will keep her from getting hurt again if I can help it._

The determined gleam in Tonya's eyes made Ryu sigh again and he asked, "You're not going to let this go, are you?"

"Would you if it were me?"

Ryu gave her a hard stare, no doubt realizing that Tonya was willing to do anything to help her first friend besides Ryu himself, and gave a small nod of agreement. "There is something we could do," he told her before adding, "but I can guarantee you're not going to like it."

...

 **Trixie**

"Move your feet! If you don't it makes them an easy target!"

"Arms closer together! What's the point of using them to protect your face if there's a perfect shot between them?"

"Good! Try it again!"

The final matches were coming up and Ryu was determined to drill every defensive move possible for Trixie to learn in the short amount of time that they had. They didn't know who she would be facing yet until tomorrow and that set them all on edge. Tonya was well prepared and Nala better at defense than Trixie was, so that made her the odd man out.

Official training was over for the day, all the initiates heading to the bunker to shower and hang out before dinner, but Ryu had snagged Trixie to stay behind for extra training; naturally, Tonya stayed to help. Instead of the brunette facing off against her, however, it was Ryu himself sparring with Trixie. He had made it clear that she would most likely face someone larger than she was and would hit three times harder than her, so getting her used to Ryu's hits would help. Or at least they hoped.

Tonya had taken Ryu's spot sitting backward on a chair, keeping silent as her eyes took in everything her friend was teaching Trixie, and beside her was Nala who was stretching on the floor. The red head was just as quiet, wincing every now and then whenever Trixie took a particularly hard blow.

Eventually, Nala excused herself to shower and Tonya went with to keep watch for peeping toms, leaving Ryu and Trixie alone in the training room.

Now they had moved on from defense to maneuvers that _could_ be described as evasive, but...

"When moving to throw a person over your shoulder, one of the major things you need to remember is to throw off their balance." Ryu instructed, resting his hand on the shoulder of a faceless, full-bodied dummy he had pulled out of an equipment closet on the otherside of the room.

...Trixie wasn't so sure.

It was completely white with black dots littering its body, showing weak points to aim for. He arranged it so one of it's arms was shoulder height and moved to stand with his back to it's front. The dummy's right hand was resting on Ryu's right shoulder.

"To throw someone off balance, you need to do two things." He told Trixie as he reached up to grab the dummy hand on his shoulder as he continued. "First, pull them forward into your back, shifting their weight, then..."

Lightning fast, Ryu yanked the dummy forward right as one of his feet kicked back and knocked the dummy's feet out from underneath it, and quickly heaved it the rest of the way over his shoulder onto the mat with a loud _THUD!_

Trixie stared at the dummy at her feet with wide eyes and could only think one thing.

 _Holy shit..._

"Alright, your turn."

Her head snapped up and she gave Ryu an incredulous look and said, "You have got to be joking."

Ryu's hands, wrapped in black tape, came to rest on his hips as he jerked his chin at the dummy. "Pick it up and get into position."

It was clear to Trixie that he wasn't budging on this so she heaved a sigh and leaned down to pick up the dummy, standing it upright in the position it had been previously, and positioned its hand like Ryu had before standing with her back to it's front and it's hand on her shoulder as if it were trying to grab her. Ryu moved to the other side to get a better view of her feet, crossing his arms over his chest before asking, "Did you see what I did before? How I moved my feet?"

She gave a wordless nod.

"Good. Now while the point is to throw your opponent off balance, make sure you keep your own, otherwise you'll just end up pulling them ontop of you and you'll fall together." He explained, looking over Trixie's form for a split second before giving her the head nod to start.

Breathing deeply through her nose, Trixie pictured Ryu preforming the move inside her mind, and moved herself. She grabbed the wrist of the fake offender and pulled him forward, feeling the dummy's chest touch her back right as she kicked her foot back to knock out the feet out from underneath the dummy, but the weight proved too much and she ended up falling flat on her stomach with the dummy half on top of her.

She groaned, turning her head to the side out of the powdered surface of the mat, and touched the bridge of her nose to see how badly she had hurt it. She basically fell on her face.

Ryu took a knee and tilted his head to the side as he looked down at Trixie, a playful grin on his face. "And what have we learned from this?"

"Not to wait so long to kick back," Trixie grumbled, pushing herself up until she was sitting back on her knees, the dummy rolling off to her side, and Ryu offered a hand to pull her up into a stand.

"Exactly. It should take less than a second for your foot to move back but that doesn't mean you wait to fully pull your opponent onto you otherwise," He gestured to the dummy on the floor, "scenario 'fall-o on your face-o' occurs."

Trixie ran a tired hand over her face and gave a small sigh of defeat. She doubted that she would be able to master this before her match but she knew she needed all the help she could get.

"Try again."

For the next two hours they tried the move over and over again. On her fifth try she was able to execute the move without falling over herself but Ryu had taken the dummy and replaced it with one even more large and more heavy than the last one. It had taken her half an hour on that dummy alone for her to be able to even heave the damn thing over her shoulder and half an hour longer for her to execute the move without falling right as she kicked her foot out. When she finally performed the throw almost perfectly, Ryu had her try it a few times on him, and she immediately felt the difference. While Ryu was tall and exetremely fit, the dummy was at least a head taller than he was and had sand bags within it to add more weight, so he was lighter than the dummy and didn't require as much effort to throw over her shoulder.

On her first try with Ryu, Trixie had used more strength than necessary due to the difference in weight and had thrown him a little too hard over her shoulder onto the mat. Panicked, she had begun fretting over him and apologized over and over again, but he had simply burst into laughter and praised her execution on the move.

For the last half an hour, Ryu helped Trixie stretch her body out so she wouldn't be terribly sore the next day, despite her groans of protest, and patted her on the back before leaving the training room. He shouted on his way out that he would shower quickly then meet her and the others in the mess hall for a late dinner.

When the door slammed shut, Trixie released the breath she had been holding in, and her shoulders drooped.

She was more grateful than she could describe for Tonya's and Ryu's help so she could win her match but a small voice in her mind asked what the point was. Would she really win against her opponent?

Four had explained to the initiates that Dauntless was trying all sorts of new things this year and that included the final matches. This year, they had a small group of full-membered volunteers who had offered to face off with some of the initiates, and that was for both Dauntless born initiates and transfers. So half of the initiates were either facing each other or a fully trained member of Dauntless.

Trixie, while having won her match against Rowan, knew that if she ended up facing a Dauntless member, they wouldn't forfeit like he had. They would keep going until she couldn't fight anymore. And that frightened her.

Breathing deeply, Trixie the training room, heading for the initiates bunker with every intention of taking a long shower. After all, if she failed her match, she wanted to get as many long showers as she could. Who knew when her next shower would be when she ended up Factionless.

...

 **Eric**

"Are you aware of why I called you here?"

He leaned back in his chair, bringing his feet up onto his desk and crossing his ankles, and clasped his hands in his lap. His expression and voice were easy going but his eyes were hard and cold.

Sitting in one of the chairs on the other side of his desk was Rowan's brother Derek. The burly man looked awkward and tense sitting in the small chair, his scarred left eye twitching at Eric's question. "No sir."

Derek had recently been requested to be moved to the wall by the head of the weapons department. He had lost his temper and destroyed months of research for a new rifle prototype. While it was a hassle to clean up after, Eric couldn't deny that he was impressed by the man's strength, but that didn't make up for what Eric wanted to punish him for.

"I'm aware you have a younger brother. Rowan, correct?"

Derek's hand gripped the armrest of the chair but other than that he shows no other visible reaction. "Yes, sir."

His feet slipped off the desk as he suddenly leaned forward on his elbows, the tips of his fingers touching to form a small peak, and he said, "You're rather close with him I imagine, seeing how you changed his final score right after the final process of his initiation."

Eric knew that bluntly accusing Derek of his actions that he tried so hard to hide was a risky move but it proved fruitful when Derek's eyes suddenly narrowed, his eyes showing his barely contained rage, and his tense body went completely rigid as if he were keeping himself from launching his body over the desk.

 _Bingo..._

"I have no idea what you're talking about sir." Derek all but growled out, trying to play the part of the naive fool no doubt, but he wasn't executing it as well as Eric could have. The straight forward attack worked, now Derek had but a small crack in his armor, but that was all Eric.

"Your brother was going to fail, to become Factionless, but you decided that you would save him. And why wouldn't you? He suffered just as much as you did, your father's temper being what it was; the only difference is while you grew thick skinned, he didn't."

The veins in Derek's neck slowly became visible, alerting Eric that he might snap at any moment if he wasn't careful, but he continued speaking.

"I like you, Derek. In fact, I see much of my younger self in you, and I respect you for making others fear you because of your strength," Eric confesses and Derek visibly relaxes a bit at these words.

 _Foolish..._

"However...I do not think that protecting a sexual offender is a good move on your part." Eric finished and watched with amusement as Derek suddenly froze, his eyes widening, and Eric could tell that he had caught him.

No matter what Derek said, Eric knew he had him pinned, and that was where he wanted him to be.

"It was smart of you to wait to admit your brother into the medical wing at a later date, hiding his involvement in the assault of a _minor,_ by Dauntless standards; however this stops now."

Rising from his seat, Eric's hands went behind his back as he took slow strides from around his desk to stand in front of Derek, looking down at the man who was barely controlling his emotions at this point.

"I just wanted to inform you that I _will_ be charging your brother with sexual assault and he _will_ become Factionless after initiation is over. Any attempt to interfere or change this will result in immediate imprisonment and charged with being an accomplice."

"You have no proof," Derek stood, reaching only a few inches higher than Eric, but the leader found himself unintimidated. "You have no evidence that he was there that night. You have _nothing._ "

"I have a witness," Eric countered smoothly. "And Rowan's medical records show the description of his wounds matching those of the dead initiates who were there with him that night. No one thought to connect the dots until now."

Derek's fists were clenched so tightly that Eric was almost convinced that he was going to attack him. However, Derek's control was more restricting that Eric had assumed and the older man merely exhaled deeply through his nose in an attempt to calm himself down.

Eric smirked, "It's over for your brother. Accept it and stay out of it or there will be more repercussions for you than you could possibly imagine."

He thought for a moment to dismiss Derek, let the threat sink in along with the cold reality that he couldn't save his brother, but he immediately realized that the threat was not enough. He needed one more touch. Leaning back so he was half sitting on his desk, Eric crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head to the side as he asked, "Tell me, how much do you think it will take before your brother cracks once we have him in custody?"

While he knew the threat wouldn't scare Derek, it would make him aware of the fact that he had no intention of hurting _him._ Eric wanted _Rowan._

Wordlessly, Derek turned his back on Eric, heading straight for the door, and slammed it so hard the lamp on the wall shook from the force.

 _One down..._

Eric pushed off the desk, moving to stand behind it as he faced the wall of windows overlooking the outside of the compound, and his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

 _One to go..._

...

 **Trixie**

Showering did little to calm her nerves but dinner in the mess hall proved more relaxing. The mess hall was nearly empty, most of its occupants had gone to bed early or gone to the Pit, and meant more leftovers for the group. Not long after her arrival, Four showed up, looking as if he had lost years of his life from an argument with Tris he had told them, and joined them for a late dinner.

The cooks had left the kitchen for a break of their own. Any foods that hadn't been eaten were left out so Tonya and Trixie piled together three trays full of different foods for all of them to pick off of, making a mini buffet of their own at the table. Ryu and Tonya nearly started a small food fight but the guard standing near the entrance glared threateningly at them to try. Tonya stuck her tongue out in response and make some comment about the man needing to loosen up and get laid. Trixie nearly choked on her food from laughter.

An hour and a half passed with the five of them eating and goofing around. Ryu was currently standing on top of the table next to them, bending his knees slightly as he waited. Sitting sideways in her seat and leaning back, Tonya closed one eye as she held up a small piece of food, and aimed carefully before tossing it. Though he adjusted to try and catch it in his mouth, the piece of carrot bounced off his chin and fell onto the table at his feet.

Ryu cursed out loud, causing everyone to burst into laughter at his pouting expression. "I really wanted to eat that one," Ryu whined, dropping down to sit on the edge of the table.

"I don't understand how anyone can like carrots. They aren't very tasty even if you do cook them," Trixie commented out loud before going to take a sip of her drink only to glance over the rim of her cup and see that everyone was staring at her with an odd expression. Everyone except Four of course. "What?"

"You don't like carrots?" Ryu asked incredulously.

Trixie merely shook her head.

Tonya ran a tired hand over her eyes and groaned. "How could you not like carrots? Everyone likes carrots!"

"Not me."

Tonya's head fell against the table and Four chuckled before adding, "Don't even get her started peas."

Tonya's head snapped up, her eyes wide with horrific shock as she shouted, "You don't like peas?!"

Trixie shot a glare at Four. "Thanks a lot."

"Anytime." He shot back with a smile before releasing a yawn, stretching his arms in the air above his head.

"Couldn't have said it better myself friend," Ryu said as he jumped off the table, twisting his body from side to side with a small series of popping sounds. "I'm going to hit the sack. I suggest you all do the same."

They all nodded in agreement and made quick work of the leftovers. Ryu and Four had picked up the trays and moved towards the trash bins, dropping the food they hadn't eaten in the bins, and set the trays on the small table next to it. Trixie, Tonya, and Nala were close behind, chatting amongst one another as the two males led the way out.

It wasn't until they neared the exit that Trixie had glanced at the two males and noticed that they had stopped walking, their bodies tense as she put an arm out to stop Tonya and Nala from crashing into them. Tonya called out to Ryu but he didn't turn; his eyes remained fixed in front of them while Four's fists clenched tightly at his sides.

Trixie stepped around them to ask what was wrong when she too saw what they were staring at.

Eric stood just outside the entrance in the hall, waiting for them patiently with his hands behind his back. When he saw her, the two of them immediately locked eyes and she couldn't stop the shiver that ran down her spine from the intensity of his gaze.

 _Damn it..._

When the corner if his lips turned up into a small smug smile, she felt her cheeks flush just the tiniest bit. She was still supposed to be mad at him but it was like her rage had gone to take a cool shower before she could.

He approached them with purpose in his step, his eyes never leaving her, making her feel once again like small prey to his hungry gaze. What did he want now?

Four went tense beside her when he too noticed Eric's gaze was focused solely on her and he moved to stand in front of her but Ryu caught the man's arm, keeping him where he was. The last thing they needed was a fight in the middle of the night.

"Late night meal?" He asked, trying to sound curious but it was clear that he wasn't really.

Blushing, Trixie ducked her head and looked off to the side, and gave a small shrug. She didn't trust herself to answer verbally without stuttering. Knowing how she normally acted around him, it was more than likely a possibility.

"What's it to you?" Tonya asked as she came to stand next to Ryu, her arms crossed as she puffed out her chest the tiniest bit, practically oozing defiance against the man who stood not six feet from them, but he merely huffed a laugh as he directed his attention from Trixie to her.

"I see you still lack the ability to answer a casual question without your overwhelming paranoia that I'm somehow out to get you. Tell me, how do you sleep at night?" Eric mocked, making Tonya's face go absolutely livid as she breathed deeply through her nose. Trixie always did find it a little impressive how well he seemed to push her friend's buttons so well when she was practically level-headed the entire time.

"Speaking of paranoia, how is Jeanine doing, Eric? I know she makes frequent visits to meet with you," Ryu suddenly asked, his nonchalant tone betraying the smug look in his eyes as he clasped his hands behind his head in a relaxed manner, "I wonder what that's about?"

Eric's eyes went ice cold as he gave Ryu a hard glare, his jaw clenching tightly as they seemed to have a silent battle of wills between the two of them, and the air became thick with tension at the unanswered question.

 _What? Jeanine has been here? THE Jeanine of Erudite?_

How Ryu came across this information wasn't as concerning as to why the leader of another faction was making constant trips to Dauntless without many people knowing. Why though? Why was she coming here?

"Did you need something Eric?" Trixie suddenly asked, trying quickly to dispel the heaviness in the air that seemed to be pressing down on everyone.

Whatever battle Eric seemed to be having with Ryu ended the second he turned to the sound of her voice, his hardened eyes softening the tiniest bit upon meeting her gaze, his jaw loosening as he took a deep breath through his nose and blinked. His sudden change in demeanor took Trixie aback for a moment and she nearly forgot that she had asked him a question.

 _Wow..._

Without paying attention to their audience, Eric took a step closer to her, invading her personal space, and replied, "I need to speak with you for a moment... _alone._ "

She blinked, her mouth forming an "o" as she realized what his words might mean.

He needed to speak with her alone? Why? What for?

"You can talk to her right here." Four practically growled, his anger barely contained at seeing the two of them so close to one another, and Trixie took a step back from Eric.

Noticing the protective look in Four's eye, Eric smirked at him and suddenly reached out to grab Trixie's shoulder. She gave a small yelp as he pulled her directly into him, her smaller form fitting to his side under his arm rather well.

 _Shut up shut up SHUT UP,_ she thought frantically to herself as a new blush came over her, her cheeks practically glowing as Eric's arm came around her shoulder to hold her in place.

"My words are for her ears, not yours. Surely you can part with her for a few minutes; I know Tris certainly wouldn't mind."

The spark of anger in Four's gaze made it clear to Trixie that Eric had pushed one button too far and immediately spoke up, "It's fine Four. I don't mind."

Four glanced at her, clearly not wanting to leave her alone with Eric for even a moment, but Ryu placed a firm hand on Four's shoulder and gave a tight smile, "Well if it's alright with Trixie, I don't think we have anything to worry about. Right Nala?"

The small redhead blinked a few times before it dawned on her and she exclaimed, "Oh yes! Absolutely!"

Trixie gave her a wry smile before glancing at Tonya who had remained oddly silent during the conversation but the brunette's expression was strangely unreadable as she stared at Eric. What was she thinking?

The arm wrapped around Trixie's shoulders tightened briefly as he gave an empty smile.

"Good."

Without warning, he suddenly turned Trixie and himself around, taking wide strides as he led them out of the mess hall, and she was barely able to turn around to catch Four's worried expression before they were out of sight.

...

"Again."

Inhaling deeply through her nose, Trixie stared at Eric's broad back, trying to control the thoughts flying through her mind as she tried to remind herself to focus on his instruction and not on his monstrous physique.

He stood facing away from her, waiting for her to strike, his head bowed as he deep even breaths, and she moved.

Running towards him, she grabbed his shoulders and hoisted herself up and over his gigantic form, feeling herself fall forward. When her thighs brushed his shoulders, she moved so her legs wrapped around his neck, and she began to pull him down with her. Instead of bending over like he was supposed to so she could roll and flip him onto his back, Eric braced himself and locked his feet into the mat, and his arms wrapped around her lower back to press her against him. Now she was upside down with her face pressed into Eric's thigh. She had failed again.

"You need to be quicker when locking your thighs around your opponents neck and use more force when going to throw them over your body. Otherwise, they'll stop you just like this and then you're fucked." Eric told her in a slightly breathless voice.

Grunting as she tried to adjust her position, Trixie went to comment on the vulgar end of his statement but cried out instead when she felt herself falling face first into the mat.

 _Of COURSE, he drops me..._

"Again."

Groaning, Trixie lightly beat her head a few times against the padded mat and convinced herself that her fuse was longer than this.

Was it?

She was in the training room, again, only this time her instructor was Eric himself. It had come as a surprise to Trixie when he had told her that he was going to be showing her a few moves that would be more than helpful during her next match. What he had failed to tell her is the move he was showing her now not only tested the limits of her agility but her heart as well.

"Do we have to?" She muttered into the mat.

It was silent for a moment, Eric standing off to the side as he wiped the back of his neck with a small hand towel he had snagged from the shower room on their way there, and she glanced at him from her position on the floor. He was staring at her as he drank from his water bottle, a thoughtful expression on his face as he seemed to consider her whine as an honest request.

They had been training for nearly two hours, surely they were finished?

"Fine. We're finished for tonight," He told her as he set the water bottle down, the towel following right after.

Her body sagged in relief and she exhaled deeply.

 _Thank God..._

"After you learn this next move I'm about to teach you."

She groaned much louder this time so Eric knew how frustrated she was becoming but she stood nonetheless, turning to face him as he stepped back onto the mat. The sweats he wore were baggy and dragged slightly over the backs of his heels but the tank top left nearly nothing for her imagination as he walked past her and stopped in the middle of the ring. As he moved to sit down on his knees, she couldn't help but think about how much work he must have put into strengthening his body when he first joined Dauntless.

When her thoughts began to stray towards images of what he might look like without his shirt on, she rubbed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose as she mentally shoved all of them into a closet located in the back of her mind and slammed the door shut before imagining a lock on the knob and throwing away the key.

 _You will not think about his defined chest and abs. You will not think about his wide shoulders and broad back, you will not think about the muscles hidden underneath those baggy sweatpants, you will not think about-_

"You comin' Trickster?"

Eric's voice snapped Trixie out of her mantra and she turned, ready to apologize for her distracting thoughts, but choked on air instead when she saw that Eric had removed his tank top and thrown it out of the ring where it now sat in a small heap next to the water bottle. Now bare from the neck to waist, his chest was showing a sheer layer of sweat with thin droplets running downward, and a tattoo of a wolf paw on his lower stomach that disappeared into the waistline of his bottoms. She didn't even know he had _another_ tattoo.

She tried to speak but nothing except jumbled words and high-pitched noises came tumbling out of her mouth out like a waterfall, her face flushed in embarrassment.

He raised an amused brow, rolling his shoulders as he watched the pink of her cheeks turned to a deep red, and the corner of his mouth turned up in a smirk.

 _This asshole knows EXACTLY what he's doing. Why else would he be looking at me with that...that look..._

"Something wrong?" He asked, the teasing tone of his voice telling her that he already knew the answer.

Instead, she swallowed down the lump in her throat and approached him. Fine, if he was going to play that game, she could play too, and she would by acting as if his state of undress didn't bother her.

...Not one bit.

When she stood a few feet from him, he gestured to the floor in front of him.

"Lay down on your back."

Her eyes nearly bugged out of her skull and, if it were physically possible, her jaw would have hit the floor.

" _Huh?_ "

He sighed before reaching up and grabbing her by the wrist, forcefully pulling her down to the floor, but making sure to be careful that she didn't hurt herself. "Come on we don't have all night," Eric told her in a matter-of-fact tone as he waited for her to arrange herself into position.

She laid perpendicular to him, her body stiff as a board with her hands resting at her sides, and she forced herself to breathe evenly through her nose as she stared up at the ceiling. Everything was fine, nothing was wrong, whatever move Eric had in store to teach her was surely going to be useful-

She yelped when Eric grabbed her ankles and turned her body to face him before pushing her legs apart and moving to nestle himself between her thighs.

If her face wasn't red before, it was certainly a brick now.

Eric breathed out through his nose as he took her ankles and wrapped her legs around his torso and instructed, "Lock your feet. Make sure it's tight."

It took a moment for the words to process and she gave a small nod before her feet slowly moved, her legs now completely wrapped around Eric as he sat back on his heels. He nodded in approval when he felt her legs tighten around him. "Good."

Then suddenly he was leaning forward, his body slightly hunched over her form, but kept his body weight off of her.

"If you find yourself on your back, and your opponent tries to get on top of you or already is, the nest way to get back the advantage is to keep them there." He told her as his hands glided up from her ankles to her thighs, giving them a light squeeze.

Feeling her heart practically leap into her throat, her thighs unconsciously squeezed him more tightly. He nodded in approval before he said, "Good. Now pull me closer quick."

His hands squeezed her thighs even harder and her lower body moved, her legs yanking him downwards toward her, and one of his hands released her thigh to slam on the mat next to her head as he caught himself.

At this point, Trixie was hyperventilating, his eyes stared into hers with a level of intensity that made her heart beat painfully against her ribcage. His face was inches from hers, the closest any man had ever been to her, and she found her body felt frozen in place.

Eric swallowed, his head nodding slowly. "Yes. Like that," Eric told her in a breathy voice before clearing his throat and explained, "By throwing them off their balance, it leaves them open for an attack to the face...or the neck."

The longer they stared at each other, the more Eric's words seemed to fade out, and Trixie felt more physically aware of the position they were in. Never in her life had Trixie picture a man would be in between her thighs like this, even if it was for training, and never had she pictured it would be Eric. Despite her lack of knowledge on the subject of intamacy, a small part in the back of her mind betrayed her by admitting that he seemed to fit quite snuggly between her thighs, his weight not too heavy yet not exactly light.

"I-I think I get it." She told him weakly, her voice nearly a whisper as she tried to bring her mind back to the present.

"Good," Eric responded in a low voice.

Trixie turned her head, waiting for him to move off since it seemed their training sessions was over, and when she went to roll to try to get him to move, the hand still at her thigh suddenly shot up to grab her by the wrist, and pinned it beside her head. Panicked, her free hand went to grab his arm to stop him but he leaned forward and his other hand grabbed her wrist right as she raised it off the mat.

"E-Eric?" Her voice cracked out. When he didn't answer, she turned her head back to see if he had heard her and froze when she saw his expression. His pupils were wide as saucers, his breaths heavy, and his body pressed heavily onto hers forcing her thighs open a bit wider.

She squirmed the tiniest bit, trying to relieve the pressure she felt on her thighs, but felt her whole body pause when he pressed harder against her.

And that's when she felt it.

It hadn't dawned on her the effect this position might have on Eric when he had first moved to settle between her thighs, but with his arousal was pressed harshly into her thigh she had an idea.

Before she could tell him to get off, he shifted and rolled his hips, pressing his arousal directly into the area between her thighs. The strangest sensation sent sparks shooting up her spine, and she released a small gasp of surprise. What was he _doing?_

Eric growled deep in his throat, his head bowing low enough that their noses touched, and his eyes screwed shut. A second later, he rolled his hips again, his arousal pressing against that same area, and this time a small whine escaped her.

 _What is wrong with me? Is he seriously this aroused right now? Am I?!_

Her mind was screaming at her, telling her that this was wrong on so many levels, reminding her that this was the same man who had thrown Rowan in her face not too long ago and still hadn't apologized for it, but her body was pulling her down from reality, begging her not to think and just _feel._

Trixie whimpered when his hips rolled against her yet again, this time his full body weight pressed into her, and she couldn't help but moan.

" _Eric..._ "

Upon hearing her voice, Eric's body suddenly went rigid above her, and his eyes snapped open. The lust in his eyes gone, replaced by a harsh glare that she recognized, and just like that the weight of his body was gone as he pushed off of her and stood.

Confused by his sudden coldness, Trixie closed her legs as she pushed herself up into a sitting position, watching as Eric strode off the mat towards his things. He yanked on his tank top, grabbing the water bottle before throwing the towel over his shoulder.

Hesitant, she called out in a small voice, "Eric?"

"Go back to the bunker, initiate."

He didn't turn to look at her and his shoulders were slightly hunched as he strode off to the exit.

Her bottom lip quivered as she watched him go, the door slamming shut moments later. Pulling her knees up, Trixie pressed her face into them as she tried to will away the tears of shame and embarrassment at what had just occurred.

For a split second, Trixie had thought that Eric had wanted her.

While it was unrealistic to think such a thing, his eyes and the way he had practically possessed her without even trying made her think for a second that she was desirable. She had never thought herself as such, only thinking that she might get lucky if anyone wanted the broken girl who always thought highly of others but never of herself. But for a split second, even if he denied it, Eric had _wanted_ her, or at least made her feel wanted.

Now he never would. He was a smart man after all. Who would want a broken shell of a person trying to fit in somewhere she clearly didn't belong.

...

 **OKAY SO LETS BE HONEST FOR A MOMENT. I BET NONE OF YOU WERE EXPECTING THAT LAST PART WERE YOU? BELIEVE ME I WASN'T EITHER LOL IT IS LITERALLY 4:30 AM WHERE I'M AT SO I MADE THE SPLIT DECISION TO MAKE IT KINDA SAUCY AT THE END BECAUSE, LETS BE HONEST, YOU ALL DESERVE IT WITH HOW MUCH YOU GUYS PUT UP WITH ME LOL**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and I am happy to annouce that I have the next chapter plotted out I just have to actually write it LOL**

 **And on another note, WE ARE BASICALLY AT 100 REVIEWS WITH THIS STORY AND I AM IN AWE OF HOW MUCH YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN ENJOYING IT. IT MAKES ME SUPER HAPPY THAT YOU LIKE MY STORY AND I PROMISE I WILL NEVER GIVE UP ON THIS ONE. I WILL FINISH IT!**

 **So with that being said, please Follow, Favorite, and Review!**

 **The more reviews I get, the more I am motivated to update!**

 **I hope you all have a wonderful day wherever you are!**

 **Love, ~CoolCat0720**


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